by Gareth Robertson December 24th, 2009
New reports now show that dozens of passengers were injured after an American Airlines jet overshot the runaway in Jamaica when trying to land in heavy rain. The fuselage of the Boeing 737-800 broke into two pieces on impact. Despite this bad news, no reports suggested any fatalities.
A spokesman for American Airlines, Tim Wagner, said that the Boeing 737-800, which is one of the airline’s newest models, was carrying 148 passengers at the time of the crash. There were six crew members on board as well.
The American Airlines flight was coming from Washington D.C. and had stopped in Miami en route. According to reports, four people have been hospitalized with broken bones. However, none of the injuries are thought to be life threatening. Out of the people that received broken bones, the pilot was one of them, suffering a broken arm.
Jamaica’s information minister, Daryl Vaz, told local media that 40 people were injured. He went on to say that the airplane is broken in two and that 29 people had to be taken to Kingston Public Hospital. Others with minor injuries were treated at the airport.
American Airlines said it was still checking into injury reports and would issue an update on injuries later on. Initial reports indicated that the aircraft crashed through a fence at the end of the runway and ended up partly on a roadway. The flight did go through high turbulence and thunderstorms on the way from Miami to Jamaica. Passengers were quoted as saying that there was some turbulence during the trip. They also noted that the plane seemed to bounce or at least skid after touchdown.