- Title: HONDURAS: Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 5 dead
- Date: 31st May 2008
- Summary: (AM) HONDURAS, TEGUCIGALPA (MAY 30, 2008) (REUTERS) CRASHED PLANE VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS EMERGING FROM PLANE, SOME ON THEIR OWN AND OTHERS AIDED MAN BEING CARRIED OUT FROM PLANE INJURED PASSENGER BEING CARRIED FROM PLANE VARIOUS OF INJURED PASSENGERS SITTING ON STREET VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS EMERGING FROM PLANE VARIOUS OF INJURED ARRIVING AT HOSPITAL AMBULANCE ARRIVING AT HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF INJURED WOMAN BEING PUSHED INTO HOSPITAL ON STRETCHER PEOPLE OUTSIDE HOSPITAL OBSERVING VARIOUS OF PLANE INVOLVED IN CRASH WITH RESCUE WORKERS INJURED BEING CARRIED RESCUE WORKERS TRY TO OPEN PILOT CABIN RESCUE WORKERS GIVING MOUTH TO MOUTH RESUSCITATION
- Embargoed: 15th June 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Honduras
- Country: Honduras
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVAVXIC1BC8FJB2IBVONBHFJN0A
- Story Text: TACA plane slides off runway killing at five, injuring several.
A passenger plane skidded off a rainy runway on landing at Tegucigalpa airport in Honduras on Friday (May 30), veered onto a road and smashed into cars and a building, killing five people and injuring 38.
The TACA airlines Airbus A320, which had 124 passengers on board, lay broken in three parts and spewing fuel after the accident, which happened in heavy rain and fog.
Two people were still trapped in cars underneath the wreckage five hours later, an aviation official said.
Authorities closed the airport and transferred commercial flights to a military airport for the time being.
The plane, arriving from San Salvador, had circled the airport several times before attempting to land in heavy fog, survivor Mario Castillo told Honduran television.
The plane zig-zagged off the runway, which was sodden with rain from a tropical storm, and smacked into some cars.
Passengers explained that they heard a big noise and were all trying desperately to get out. The worst injured seemed to be the people in business class.
Local emergency services chief Carlos Cordero said five people were killed, including the pilot, passengers and people driving cars hit by the aircraft. Around 38 others were injured, he told Reuters.
Some 20,000 gallons of fuel had leaked out of the wreckage, posing a serious fire hazard, Cordero said.
One of the dead was Harry Brautigam, a Nicaraguan who headed the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.
Tegucigalpa, nestled in hills, is one of the most treacherous airports for landing in Latin America due to its short runway and difficult approach.
Friday's weather was affected by Tropical Storm Alma, which was drenching Honduras and Nicaragua with rain as it broke up over the mountains of Central America.
TACA said in a statement the plane was carrying 124 passengers and 11 crew. A local TACA manager earlier said there were 142 people on board.
The last time El Salvador's TACA was involved in an accident was in 1993 in Guatemala City when a Boeing 767 airliner overran the runway as it was landing and crashed into some houses. Nobody was killed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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