Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been blasted on social media after posting about hockey shortly after a plane crashed at Toronto airport.
The 53-year-old shared a clip to his X profile on Monday afternoon of the Canadian national team beating out Finland in the 4 Nations competition.
Trudeau followed that up with another post about his relationship with Indigenous communities in Canada.
As he was posting, Delta Flight 4819 had crash-landed at Toronto Pearson Airport amid windy weather, with gusts hitting up to 40mph after a snowstorm.
The cause of the crash – which left 18 people with minor injuries – is not yet known, with the 80 people onboard making it out alive after it ended up on its roof.
Trudeau’s X profile remained without any mention of the incident until late on Monday night when he re-shared a comment made my Canadian MP Anita Anand.
The Minister of Transport had said: ‘I want to thank all the first responders and staff following today’s incident at Pearson Airport.
‘My thoughts are with those injured and their families. We are supporting the ongoing investigation in any way we can.’
Due to his silence over the crash, the outgoing Prime Minister, who announced last month that he was resigning, was slammed on social media.
One person posted: ‘There was a plane crash you know.’
Another added: ‘Any words on the Delta plane crash @ Pearson International today?’
One other said: ‘Don’t you sympathize with the Canadians who suffered a plane crash today? Fortunately there were no deaths.’
Another user commented: ‘A plane crash in Toronto and c***womble Trudeau is posting about a hockey game? Are you serious?!?!?!?’
His delayed reaction to the crash won’t do the PM any favors, after becoming deeply unpopular in recent years over the soaring cost of food, housing and immigration.
On Tuesday, new footage emerged of the Delta plane sliding down the icy runway at Toronto Pearson before bursting into flames.
Flight 4819, operated on behalf of Delta by Endeavor Airlines, can be seen smoothly flying down towards the strip before hitting the the ground.
As it touches down, orange flames shoot out from the underside of the commercial jet as it scrapes along the runway, with thick black smoke billowing from the plane.
Survivors have described the chaos that erupted inside the aircraft as the plane battled wind gusts as it attempted to landed.
One passenger explained how they were left ‘hanging upside down like bats’ after the aircraft clipped its wing and flipped over.
Another noted ‘there was a big fireball on the left side of the plane’, and one more described the landing as ‘very forceful’.
At least 18 people were left injured, including a child, following the horror crash at the Canada airport at around 2.15pm local time on Monday.
Canadian authorities are still working to determine the cause of the crash, calling for patience as they seal off two runways and recruit US reinforcements.
Several passengers captured crucial video which has helped to piece together the immediate aftermath of the crash.
Pete Koukov, who had been filming ski content, was on board the plane and shared harrowing video of the moment he escaped the wreckage.
‘Being alive feels pretty cool today,’ he captioned the video.
In the video, Koukov was climbing out of the upside down plane with the assistance of a female crew member, who was telling passengers: ‘Come on. Don’t take no video. Put that phone away.’
Koukov, clearly in shock, pivoted his camera to capture the upside down plane.
‘Holy f**k,’ he said repeatedly. ‘Oh my f***ing God. Yo, I was just on this f***ing plane.’
Later, he recalled the harrowing experience of having to unstrap himself from his seat – whilst upside down – and hurry to the emergency exit.
‘We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down hanging like bats,’ he said.
‘Just feeling lucky and happy I got to give the person I didn’t know sitting next to me a big hug, that we were OK, and see my friends who are here to pick me up from the airport and give them a big hug.’
The crash was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past three weeks.
A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on January 29, killing 67 people.
A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on January 31, killing six people on board and another person on the ground.
That was followed by a plane crash on February 6 in Alaska that killed all ten people onboard.