MONTREAL: Two jets collided on the ground at a Toronto airport on Friday,setting the tail of one aircraft alight and prompting passengers toevacuate the other via an emergency slide.

Both WestJet and Sunwing confirmed that their planes were involved in thecollision at Toronto Pearson International, the second such incident at theairport in five months.

Video footage shared on social media appeared to show the tail of oneaircraft aflame and spewing black smoke, and later images indicated that itwas Sunwing´s plane.

“WestJet has confirmed that WS2425, a Boeing 737-800 with 168 guests andsix crew onboard, inbound from Cancun to Toronto Pearson, while waiting toproceed to the gate and stationary, was struck by a Sunwing aircraftpushing back from the gate,” it said on its Twitter account.

“Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guestsrequired evacuation via emergency slide. Emergency crews were on hand andresponded immediately,” the airline tweeted.

“We can confirm guests are safely in the terminal and they are in theprocess of clearing customs,” it said, without specifying whether or notthere were injuries.

A post on the Sunwing Vacations Facebook page confirmed the collision.

“A Sunwing aircraft, under tow by our ground handling service provider,came into contact with another aircraft. There were no Sunwing crew orpassengers onboard at the time of the incident,” it said.

Toronto Pearson said that “fire and emergency services have responded andpassengers have been evacuated” following the incident, which “impacted”some flight operations at the airport´s Terminal Three.

The collision is the second such incident at Toronto Pearson in recentmonths.

In early August, a Canadian and a Polish passenger jet clipped wings on theground at the airport, causing “serious” damage but no casualties.