A military charter plane carrying 143 people skidded off the
runway at Jackonsville airport last night and crashed into St. Johns River.
The Miami Air Boeing 737 was returning from Guantanamo Bay
and tried to land at Jackonsville airport shortly after 9:30pm on Friday but
the landing was botched and the aircraft ended up in the water.
Fortunately, the plane, which was carrying military
personnel, was not fully submerged in the water. The Fire and Rescue crews
rushed into the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, and succeeded in
rescuing all passengers safely.
Of the 136 passengers and 7 crew members on board, two
suffered minor injuries and they received treatement immediately. The rest were
unscathed.
No lives lost as military plane carrying 143 people skids
off the runway and crashes into a river while landing at Jacksonville airport
Captain Michael Connor, the commanding officer of NAS
Jacksonville, said during a news conference that the fact that nobody died was
a "miracle".
He said: "I think it is a miracle. We could be talking
about a different story this evening."
Conor added that crews started working to contain any jet
fuel leaks almost immediately after the passengers were rescued. It is not
clear how long it will take to get the plane out of the water.
