Mexico plane crash: 103 people onboard but all survived, say officials An
Aeromexico airliner carrying 103 people from the Mexican city of Durango to the country’s capital has crashed soon after takeoff, but all passengers and crew survived the accident, according to Mexican officials.
Eighty-five people were injured – some seriously – but José Rosas Aispuro, the governor of Durango state, said there were no fatalities among the 97 adults, two children and four crew members on board. A spokesman for the Durango state health ministry said two of the victims were in critical condition. Aispuro later said at a press conference that information he had received suggested that “after the plane had taken off, suddenly it was hit by a gust of wind that made it go down briskly and touch the ground with its left wing, detaching its two engines. “The aircraft was projected off of the runway … and fell approximately 300 metres [away].
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 as the aircraft filled with smoke and flames, she said. “A little girl who left the plane was crying because her legs were burned,” said Flores, who said she was Mexican but lived in Bogota, Colombia. “I feel blessed and grateful to God,” she said. One survivor, who had been sitting in Premium Economy and escaped from the front of the plane, told the website the aircraft had failed to properly take off “perhaps because of its weight or because of the intense storm that had just started to hit this part of the city”. A second survivor, Rómulo Campuzano, who is the regional head of one of Mexico’s main political parties, said the plane had left the ground when the crash took place. “The plane had picked up speed and had already taken off from the ground, from the runway, and suddenly the plane drops, I don’t know why,” he told the Televisa network. “I felt two bangs, two very strong bangs and then the plane began to shake extremely violently,” said Campuzano, the secretary general of the National Action party. “Thank God no lives have been lost,” Campuzano added.