Thaindian News

London, Aug 17 (ANI): A Boeing 737 jetliner carrying 121 passengers, including six crew members, crashed in a thunderstorm and broke into three pieces as it slid onto the runway on a Caribbean island on Monday. Everyone onboard “miraculously” survived the tragedy except one passenger who died of a suspected heart attack on the way to hospital.

“It was extraordinary that almost everyone survived, it was a miracle and we have to give thanks to God,” The Guardian quoted the Caribbean island’s Governor, Pedro Gallardo, as saying.

Sixty-eight year-old Amar Fernandez de Barreto, was the only passenger who died of a suspected heart attack on the way to hospital.

Dozens more were taken to the hospital for evaluation, with five in serious condition, the paper said.

The plane, owned by private company Aires, left Bogotá shortly after midnight and was descending into San Andres, a Caribbean resort off Nicaragua’s coast, at 1.49 am when the accident took place.

Orlando Paez, a national police general called the incident “a miracle,” and added that the skill of the pilot kept the plane from sliding off the runway. The engines of the aircraft shut down on impact.

“We tried to get out of the plane because it was starting to shoot flames. In a few minutes, a police patrol arrived and helped us. It was “a miracle of God,” Ricardo Ramirez, a survivor of the accident, said. (ANI)