It was a scary situation for passengers on board an Air Canada flight that took off from Calgary on Thursday night when a blown tire forced it to make a dramatic emergency landing in Edmonton.

Air Canada flight 8481 was bound to Grande Prairie from Calgary, but when it took off at about 8 p.m., one of the tires on the plane blew.

It was too windy for pilots to turn back to Calgary International Airport, so they made the decision to land the Dash 8 aircraft at Edmonton International.

The landing, however, was anything but smooth, with the plane skidding across the runway.

One witness, who didn't want to be identified, said they were concerned the plane was "going to blow up because of all the sparks."

"We had an aircraft that had some concerns on takeoff from Calgary. So, this is a flight that was headed from Calgary to Grande Prairie. As a result of those concerns, it was diverted into Edmonton International Airport. It landed and then had some additional trouble after landing,” said Heather Hamilton, a spokesperson for Edmonton International Airport.

There were 75 people on board the aircraft; 71 passengers and four crew members. Officials say that three passengers had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

All of the affected passengers stayed the night in Edmonton.

Lee Swaile was on board the damaged plane and says it was a scary situation for everyone on board. "Once we touched down, it just all went haywire. You could just feel the plane grinding into the ground and people were screaming and just kind of holding on for dear life."

Swaile said that once they were on the ground, it felt like things were going to go from bad to worse. "It almost felt like it was going to get to the point where you might roll. The pilot must have done a hell of a job because he kept things going and got us off to the side. I think it's when we got off the runway we just king of tipped right over and stopped."

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board have been dispatched to speak with passengers and crew to determine what caused the incident.

One runway at Edmonton International Airport had to be shut down and remains closed for the investigation.

(With files from CTV Edmonton)