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“All of us at Air Canada are greatly relieved that there have been no critical injuries as a result of this incident,” he said.

“It obviously has been very unsettling for our customers and their families and we have been working very hard with them to take care of them and see after their needs.”

The Halifax area was under a snowfall warning at the time of the incident, with as much as 20 centimetres of snow forecast for the area. There was no indication from officials on whether the weather played a factor in the landing.

Passengers on board the plane said they believe the aircraft hit a power line as it came in to land and described the plane skidding on its belly for some time before it came to a stop.

The power went off at the airport, which meant an emergency response centre had to be moved to a nearby hotel, airport spokesman Peter Spurway said. Nova Scotia Power said in a tweet that power was restored to the airport, but it didn’t indicate why the electricity went out.

Randy Hall and his wife Lianne Clark were on their way home from a Mexican vacation when they said the plane ran in to trouble as it landed.

“We just thought that we were landing hard. And when the … air bags started to deploy and you saw things falling on the floor, we said, ’Oh no. We’ve got to get out,’ ” said Clark, a computer consultant

“We just opened the doors when we landed and everyone started to pile out.”

Hall said he believes the jet hit a power line before it landed hard on the runway. There were sparks but no fire, he said.