Photo courtesy: cnbc.com
A Boeing 737-800 crash lands into a nearby Florida river while trying to land on the runway at Jacksonville airport during a thunderstorm Friday at 9:40 pm local time, the jet airliner was carrying 147 people on board and there were no reports of any deaths however 21 people have been injured in the mishap and were taken to a hospital.
It has been learnt that the jet airliner was a chartered flight (Boeing 737-800) hired by the US Department of Defense and belonged to The Miami Air International, the mishap occurred post its take off from the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and when it was trying to land at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, the airplane reportedly skid off the runway and crashed into the St John’s river at the end of it.
The US Federal Aviation Administration also confirmed the crash landing and said that there were two very minor injuries involved.
The Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry also confirmed on Twitter that there were no fatalities in the accident but the crew members were trying hard to control the jet fuel on the water.
According to Ms Cheryl Bormann, an on board flight passenger the plane crash landed into the Florida River after it skidded during a thunderstorm. Ms Bormann told CNBC that “it was terrifying” but everybody on board helped each other. It has also been learnt that all the passengers weren’t sure if they had landed into an ocean or a river, they used rafts to reach the safety areas of the land from the river.
The Jacksonville Sheriff also took to Twitter and confirmed the safety of all the 147 passengers travelling in the ill-fated Boeing 737-800, in the Sheriff’s own words “The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for.”
The chartered Boeing 737-800 is not to be confused with the grounded Boeing737-Max 8 planes. The US Department of Defense has contracted Miami Air International, a US charter airline company for its twice-weekly rotator roundtrip service between the US mainland and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The service is run on every Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, starts at the naval base in Virginia via Jacksonville air station and ends in Cuba.
