A plane carrying 126 people caught fire when its landing gear collapsed on the runway at Miami International Airport on Tuesday.
The dramatic incident took place when a Red Air flight arrived from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, said Miami-Dade aviation department spokesperson Greg Chin. As rush hour traffic on and around the busy 836 made double takes and then began filming video, documenting and commenting on the risk, dozens of first responders stormed the runway in emergency mode.
Three persons were brought to the hospital with minor injuries, while the rest of the passengers were bussed from the accident location to the terminal. Fire rescue crews responded to the scene and were able to quickly douse out the fire using foam trucks. The plane was evacuated.
Those on board the plane appeared to be in good shape. However, according to Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue, three people suffered injuries. Two were transported to Jackson West Hospital and the third was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The plane was arriving from Santo Domingo around 5.30pm when the incident took place. It appeared to have come to rest near a grassy area by the side of the runway.The plane’s landing gear malfunctioned and fell off during the landing, officials said. The plane was carrying 126 passengers and 11 crew members at the time of the crash.
According to the publication, pieces of the demolished communications tower could be spotted on the burning right wing of the aircraft. Some flights were delayed due to the fire, airport officials said.
“What happened here is a miracle,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who had landed at the airport on a separate flight.
“Apparently a tire burst, and then it went back up and came back down, and the landing was so hard that the entire landing apparatus was destroyed and the belly of the plane was on the ground.”
“I believed I was going to die,” said Paola Garcia, one of the passengers, to the station.
The windows were all shattered, and someone apparently broke his arm and leg. Terrible,” Garcia remarked. “The plane was like jumping and jumping and jumping,” said Garcia.
He said, “I started running and jumping, and I thought it was going to explode.”
Another passenger, Paolo Delgado, said he saw the fire and the smoke before he said he started to smell something.
“People were like, screaming all around. I don’t know, like panic,” said Delgado.
The scene after the crash was hectic. A video posted on social media showed panicked passengers being ushered out of the plane and sliding down the inflatable emergency chute.
Passengers were then loaded onto buses and taken to safety. The crash closed the runway into Friday night as authorities continued to investigate.
The National Transit Safety Board said it will be at the airport Wednesday morning. And said it will send a team of investigators to the incident site.
