Plane Overshoots Landing in Jamaica
Tuesday night in Jamaica, an American Airlines flight met with a more-than-usual rough landing. The Boeing 737-800 carrying 154 people skidded across the slippery runway, hit a fence and stopped at an embankment. The plane landed only ten feet from the Caribbean Sea.
It’s reported that all of the passengers survived the landing, but those on board the plane were understandably rattled. Ninety people on board the flight were treated for что посмотреть в Астрахани minor injuries, and two of the 148 passengers were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Photos of the passengers exiting the plane showed people with cuts and bruises. Rain poured down on them as they were led away, and some held towels or clothing to their heads. One passenger mentioned that the plane nearly broke before her eyes.
As the plan landed, it slid on the tarmac, went across a road, crashed through a perimeter fence and then stopped at an embankment. Suitcases and other items in overhead compartments came tumbling down on passengers’ heads. The embankment was less than 20 feet from the sea, and some of the passengers who exited the plane walked along the beach, before they were picked up by bus.
The flight originally took off from Reagan National Airport in Washington, and left from Miami International airport at 8:52 p.m, arriving in Kingston, Jamaica after 10 p.m. Most of the passengers were Jamaicans on their way home for Christmas. After it landed, passengers were so grateful to be on solid ground, some of them began clapping. And then the plane started sliding.
The plane lost both engines in the accident. They were designed to separate from the wings in such an event. Before the landing, the aircraft was experiencing so much turbulence that drink service had to be halted three times before it was finally canceled. The pilot had mentioned over the speaker that there would be more turbulence still, but told passengers it wouldn’t be much more.
After the crashing, the fuselage was found to be significantly cracked. As it was landing, passengers recalled smelling jet fuel, as well as seeing smoke and debris. Not surprisingly, panic was rampant among passengers. One passenger noted that the plane skidded, then everything went black. Said passenger Natalie Morales-Hendricks, “Literally, it was like being in a car accident. People were screaming, I was screaming.”
Jamaica had been experiencing heavy rains for four days prior to the crash. The downpour was strong enough to carry off a 7-year-old girl and had been the cause of a fatal bus accident.
