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Plane with 101 on board crashes in Mexico, everyone survives
especiales
An Aeromexico passenger plane with over 100 people on board has crashed after taking off from the Guadalupe Victoria International Airport near the city of Durango, Mexico.
Eighty people have been injured in the crash, the Durango state civil protection spokesman has said. The state governor says none were killed. According to the Mexican transport minister, the plane had 97 passengers and four crew members on board.
@Rescate_Condor Accidente de una aereonave de la línea Aeroméxico al realizar el despegue en el Aeropuerto Internacional Guadalupe Victoria, ubicado en la ciudad de Durango. Servicios de emergencia auxilian a lesionados.
18 people who suffered injuries in the crash have been taken to hospital, Durango’s Health Ministry reported.
Two of the injured remain in critical condition, according to the Health Ministry.
Images of the scene published on social media show a plume of smoke rising from the ground near the tail of a plane with the Aeromexico logo on it.
A video has emerged showing firefighters hosing down the smoldering aircraft as they attempt to extinguish the fire.
Bad weather might have played a part in the plane’s hard landing. The aircraft was taking off in heavy rain, the governor of Durango state Rosas Aispuro told local broadcaster MVS News.
Passengers’ accounts seem to confirm that stormy weather might be to blame for the crash.
“The storm was very strong, there was no visibility, we took off and we fell,” Jaqueline Flores, who was on board of the ill-fated flight, told MVS News.
Mexican airport operator OMA, which runs the Durango airport, has named“adverse weather conditions” as a preliminary cause of the accident. Operations at the airport have been temporarily halted.
Aeromexico has confirmed that the crash of flight 2431, bound for Mexico City, took place shortly after takeoff from the Guadalupe Victoria International Airport. The plane was an Embraer 190 with a capacity for 100 passengers.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has instructed federal agencies, including the Secretariat of National Defense, to attend to the plane crash.
The plane has been in service for 10 years and was bought by Aeromexico in 2014. Before that, it belonged to US Airways and another US airline, Republic Airways, according to the Airfleets database.
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