Mexico airliner crashes and burns, but all aboard survive
All 101 people aboard an Aeromexico plane survived when it crashed while taking off during a severe storm in northern Mexico yesterday.
The plane, which the airline's chief executive said was “perfectly maintained” and had been serviced in February, slammed into a field nearly intact and then caught fire. Officials said everyone on board escaped alive.
However, there were differing versions of how the Embraer 190 crashed. Durango Governor Jose Aispuro said a gust of wind hit the plane shortly after it took off, causing it to lose speed and hit the ground with its left wing. Both engines were knocked loose. He said the plane skidded into a field in a horizontal position and that escape slides were able to be activated to allow all passengers and crew to escape before the plane caught fire.
Israel Solano Mejia, director of the Durango city civil defence agency, said the plane “made it off the ground, but fell nose-first” just a few hundred metres from the end of the runway. “The nose took the hit. The most seriously injured is the pilot,” Solano Mejia said.
Aispuro said the pilot and one other person were in serious but stable condition. But many escaped injury. Some passengers got out under their power, and some even wandered back to the nearby airport of Durango city to seek out relatives, Aispuro said.
Passenger Jackeline Flores said the plane crashed shortly after taking off in heavy rain. She and her daughter escaped from a hole in the fuselage.
“I feel blessed and grateful to God,” she said.