Mexico plane hit sudden, violent storm before crash

DURANGO, Mexico — It began with a strong burst of wind and pounding hail that pummelled the Aeromexico jetliner minutes after takeoff in northern Mexico then sent it smashing belly-down onto a field near the runway.

Frightened passengers scrambled to flee as flames and blinding black smoke erupted around them. Miraculously, all 103 on board survived the crash on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, passengers described the terrifying sequence of events.

“It’s not every day you kind of fall from the sky and live to tell about it,” said Alberto Herrera, 35, from Chicago.

Jose Luis Corral, a 52-year-old business owner from Portland, Oregon, agreed. Corral wore a neck brace because of injuries he suffered in the crash. “It’s so fast, terrifying to see all the people screaming,” he said.

Corral was one of four people who helped the plane’s badly injured pilot escape the blaze. The pilot suffered a serious neck injury and remains hospitalized. Fortyeight others were also injured, and 22 remained hospitalized.

Herrera said the skies were sunny as passengers boarded the flight from Durango to Mexico City Tuesday afternoon and the storm seemed to come from nowhere.

“When we were sitting on the plane there was a little drizzle, but nothing to worry about … barely hitting the windows,” Herrera said.

But another passenger, Ramin Parsa, 32, of Los Angeles, said the weather was ominous.

“The airplane actually was shaking before we even moved so I knew it was dangerous weather,” he said.

Durango state Gov. Jose Aispuro said it was too soon to speculate on the cause of the crash. Mechanical failure and human error could be factors.

Herrera said the takeoff went bad, seemingly in an instant.

“You start gaining speed and as soon as you start taking off all of the sudden the plane starts struggling and it’s getting hit with hail. The higher up we went into the storm, the heavier the hail got and more wind got to us,” Herrera said.

“Then, all of a sudden, the plane starts rocking and it starts seriously, seriously moving around and then hitting the ground,” he said. “We skidded and hit a second time and you saw the flames.”

Officials said the impact ripped both engines off the Embraer 190 jetliner.

Herrera said the emergency slide had deployed, but the fuselage was at an odd angle, so it was unusable and people had to jump to the ground.

The passengers walked back across a muddy field to the end of the runway and waited there for emergency vehicles.