Photo from the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Joseph shows Fr. Joal Bernales at the recommissioning of Lay Liturgical Ministries in September 2024. Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Joseph Facebook page

MANILA — Fr. Joal Bernales, one of the passengers who miraculously survived the Delta plane crash in Toronto, recounted the horrifying experience he had when the passenger aircraft skidded and flipped over at the Pearson airport.

“It was really hard touchdown. I was so aware of that, so hard. And then, that’s the time it was off balance,” Bernales, a priest from Archdiocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Joseph in San Jose town in Camarines Sur, said in a report by Ontario-headquartered CP24 news channel.

“And then everything in there comes so fast, and then it stops. But when the plane stopped, everything is in chaos.”

The priest said that, amid the chaos, humanity still prevailed. 

Delta plane flips at Toronto airport, all passengers and crew accounted for

“Good thing that there’s still humanity, that all of us were saying, ‘Are you good? Are you good? Are you good?’,” he recounted.

Some 80 people were onboard when the Delta plane skidded along the snowy runway.

According to reports, the plane burst into flames, then flipped over before coming to a halt upside down. It lost its tail and an entire wing in the accident.

All 80 people on board survived, with some of them left hanging upside down while still strapped to their seats. Those hurt had relatively minor injuries and there were no deaths reported.

Like others, Bernales was left hanging upside down. He said he did see some people who were hurt, with “blood in the face.” 

“For me, it’s really a miracle. I would see everything in the perspective, of course, of faith, in God’s eyes.”

Bernales said he feels that everyone who survived did so for a reason.

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“You know, my reflection [on this], is that, yeah, we still have a mission in life to finish, because all of us is in the hand of God,” said the Filipino priest.

“I think all of us, the 80 passengers and crew, still have a mission in life to finish in God’s time, God’s purpose,” he said in the CP24 report.

Bernales has reached out to his diocese asking them to perform a Mass of Thanksgiving.