Officials said 43 people were treated for minor injuries, and Canadian Transport minister Jean Lapierre described the escape as a "miracle."

It was the first crash involving the Airbus long-haul jet in 13 years of commercial service.

Descending in blustery winds and thundery skies after a non-stop flight from Paris, the plane touched down as passengers applauded, but then there was a loud jolt and the aircraft ran 200 meters (660 feet) past the end of the runway and plowed into the wooded gulley.

Within seconds, passengers dived down down emergency chutes and dashed for safety shortly before the wreckage was engulfed in enormous fireballs.

"As soon as the plane stopped, they immediately opened the side of the plane where they couldn't see any flames, and then they told us to jump," said passenger Olivier Dubois. "And we all began jumping and running. We were running really fast... It was really, really scary. Very, very scary."

French and Canadian accident investigators Wednesday were to seek the cause of the crash after what appeared to be an uneventful landing. Some passengers said it appeared the jet had been struck by lightning, but a spokesman for Airbus said that for the moment this was only speculation.

Passengers told how they saw lightning flashes around them as the jet came in to land in a heavy storm.

"I saw lightning," said one passenger, Roel Bramar. "Maybe the plane had already been hit by lightning. The reason I'm mentioning that is because just as we landed, the lights turned off. And that's unusual. So I'm sure that the bad weather was responsible."

Another passenger, journalist Gilles Medioni, said that when the plane touched down "a lot of people clapped their hands, but it was a little premature. The pilot tried to put the brakes on, but he never made it. Then the plane began to lurch and bump. People began to scream and sense the plane was about to crash."