Planes collide on Toronto airport tarmac, fire prompts evacuation

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(CNN)Two commercial airplanes collided on the ground at Toronto Pearson International Airport Friday night, sparking a small fire and prompting the evacuation of dozens of passengers, the city's airport authority said.

A Sunwing Airlines aircraft backed out while being towed, striking a WestJet aircraft that had arrived from Cancun and was waiting to proceed to a gate, officials said.

There were 168 passengers and six crew members aboard the arriving airplane, according to Lauren Stewart, a WestJet spokeswoman.

There were no passengers or crew members aboard the Sunwing Airlines aircraft, the airline tweeted. The aircraft was being towed by a "ground handling service provider," the airline tweeted.

Fire trucks and ambulances descended on the tarmac when a small fire on the Sunwing aircraft began, said Beverly MacDonald, a spokeswoman with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

Video footage shows the passengers exiting an aircraft on an emergency slide as flames rose from the tail of the other airplane.