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There were no injuries, but nearly 165 passengers and crew were forced to evacuate听WestJet flight 2276 that came into the airport near a popular tourist beach around 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Princess Juliana International Airport. Three people were taken to hospital as a precaution.

The airport originally indicated that the runway would reopen around noon Monday,听听that crews were still working to clear the area. Officials will then have to complete an inspection before it is ready for takeoff again.听

Though the details of the incident haven鈥檛 been confirmed,听听that foam was deployed as a precaution and the plane’s slides were activated for the evacuation.听The plane’s right wing was damaged and had to be removed from the runway,听the airport added.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada will deploy a team to the Caribbean island to lead the investigation into the matter, 听

WestJet said it is “fully co-operating” with local authorities and plans to provide updates as more information becomes available.

The safety board, which is an independent organization that investigates transportation issues, say it “will gather information and assess the occurrence.”

The board’s investigators are not responsible for determining blame or civil or criminal liability, the agency said, noting its sole aim is to听promote transportation safety.

Videos shared online of the plane鈥檚 landing and the aftermath appear to show smoke and the plane skidding down the runway, people evacuating using the emergency slides and trucks hosing down the plane.

A St. Maarten-based live streamer and ex-airplane mechanic says he’s never witnessed something as disruptive as the WestJet plane’s landing.听

Jacco Steffens, co-founder of content and streaming website SHOWME Caribbean, said he was remotely operating a web camera pointed at St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport and streaming on YouTube as usual on Sunday.听

That was until he went to zoom in on the landing of flight 2276 around 1 p.m.听

“I said, ‘Something ain’t right,’” Steffens recalled.

An archived video of his live stream on Sunday shows the moment the flight made its final approach. The plane can be seen flying low over the water before landing roughly on its right landing gear and coming to a stop.

“I thought first that it probably just busted a tire or something, but then when I saw it sliding and the smoke was coming up, I realized that the engine was on the ground, so it was more than a blown tire,” he said.听

As someone who has worked at the airport for over 40 years, Steffans said the hard landing caught him off guard as the plane’s runway approach seemed normal.

“For the airport to be closed for 24 hours, I haven’t seen that or heard about that ever,” he said.

Steffens said travel to St. Maarten is currently in its low season, with significantly fewer planes arriving at the international airport than during the winter months. In 2023, the airport said they were visited by more than 1.4 million passengers.

Princess Juliana Airport is famous for its proximity to Maho Beach, located on the western edge of the airport, where beachgoers can gawk at planes making their final runway approaches above the white sand and clear waters.

“You can almost touch the wheels when it’s landing,” Steffens said, adding that the beach is a popular destination for aviation buffs and tourists alike.

The airport is asking people to contact WestJet directly for questions about their flights.听

With files from Canadian Press.