Plane travelling from New York to Guyana crash lands
Guyan: A Caribbean Airlines plane has crashed in Guyana and broken
into two, with the shaken passengers being left to pay for taxis to the
terminal.Captrion- The broken fuselage of a Caribbean Airlines plane
The jet with 163 people on board crashed and broke in two while
landing in Guyana in the early hours of Saturday, but miraculously
nobody was killed.
The Caribbean Airlines plane overshot the runway at Cheddi Jagan
International Airport in the capital Georgetown in rainy weather and
narrowly avoided plunging into a 200-ft deep ravine.
Images screened on television showed how the plane had cracked in two
down the middle after landing at 1.32am local time (6.32am BST).
President Bharrat Jagdeo said there could have been dozens of
fatalities if the plane had dropped into the ravine.
"We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured," he
said as authorities closed the airport, leaving hundreds of passengers
stranded and delaying dozens of flights.
About 100 people received medical attention out of the 157 passengers
plus six crew on board, according to Devant Maharaj, transportation
minister in Trinidad, where Caribbean Airlines is based.
Four people were hospitalised with serious injuries including one
with a broken leg, authorities said.
A lack of adequate field lights and other emergency equipment meant
authorities struggled at first to remove passengers from the Boeing
737-800 that had made a stop in Trinidad before arriving in Guyana.
One woman passenger described hearing a loud sound as the plane
landed followed by screaming before her husband managed to open an
emergency door. "It was terror," she said. "I was praying to Jesus."
One of those with minor injuries was Geeta Ramsingh, 41, of
Philadelphia, who said passengers had just started to applaud the
touchdown "when it turned to screams."
She said she hopped onto the wing and then onto the dirt road outside
the runway fence and suffered bruising to her legs.
"I am upset that no one came to rescue us in the dark, but a taxi
driver appeared from nowhere and charged me $20 to take me to the
terminal. I had to pay, but in times of emergencies, you don't charge
people for a ride," she said.
Sunday, The Telegraph |