Lucky escape as plane with 143 on board crashes into a river – video

PHOTO: A 737 contracted by the Department of Defense skidded off a runway in Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday, May 3, 2019. No one was seriously injured.

A Boeing jetliner with 143 people aboard from the US outpost at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, slid off a runway into a shallow river in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday while attempting to land at a military base there during a thunderstorm, injuring 21 people.

There were no reports of fatalities or critical injuries. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter that all 21 of the injured were taken to a hospital, where they were listed in good condition.

The plane, a chartered Boeing 737-800 arriving from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with 136 passengers and seven crew members, crashed into the St Johns river at the end of the runway at Naval Air Station Jacksonville at about 9:40 pm local time, a spokesman for the Florida air base said.

“The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for,” the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.

PHOTO: A Boeing 737 contracted by the Department of Defense skidded off a runway at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., on Friday, May 3, 2019. No one was seriously injured.

The sheriff’s tweet was accompanied by two photographs showing the plane, bearing the logo of Miami Air International, resting in shallow water and fully intact.

The plane was arriving “from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into Naval Air Station Jacksonville ” and crashed into the river at the end of the runway, Naval Air Station Jacksonville

“Navy security and emergency response personnel are on the scene and monitoring the situation,” it said.

David Soucie, a former inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration, described it as a private jet charter. Curry had initially called it a commercial flight.

“The fact that they were all brought out of the aircraft safely and no one was hurt says a lot about how the crew reacted to this situation,” he said.

Curry said fire and rescue crews were on the scene. “While they work please pray,” he wrote.

President Donald Trump’s White House called to offer help as the situation was developing, the mayor said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *