Six Americans injured in Honduras plane crash

May 24, 2018 | 11:53

(0) user say

At least six Americans were injured Tuesday (May 22) when a plane crashed while landing at the Honduran capital's international airport and split in two.

six americans injured in honduras plane crash

Firefighters spray foam on the wreckage of a plane, after it went off the runway at Toncontin International airport and collapsed over a busy boulevard in Tegucigalpa. (Photo: AFP/ORLANDO SIERRA)

The commercial jet from Austin, Texas left the runway and veered into a ditch, Carlos Cordero, deputy head of Honduras's disaster relief agency Copeco told local media.

Firefighters arrived at Toncontin airport in Tegucigalpa and used foam to extinguish flames coming from the wreckage.

Local businessman Pedro Atala said he and his employees had helped put out the flames with fire extinguishers, and that he had helped five men and a woman, all of whom were "practically unharmed."

"Miraculously" the accident hadn't been worse, he added.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez said on Twitter that all of the wounded were in a stable condition.

Surrounded by mountains and with a very short runway, the Toncontin airport is considered one of the world's most treacherous.

In May 2008 a Taca Airlines plane skidded off the runway and crashed into a building, leaving five people dead.

The government is constructing a new international airport about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the capital, near the Palmerola military air base.

AFP

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional