Trending News|March 05, 2015 02:22 EST
LaGuardia Airport Plane Accident News: Jet Skids Off Runway – Smashes Nose, Breaks Wing
Thursday morning, March 5, 2015, a passenger plane at LaGuardia Airport skidded off the slippery runway into a seawall fence, snapping its wing and smashing its nose.
Out of the 135 passengers and five crew members on board, none were severely injured; sources say, only "bumps and bruises" were suffered. However, the New York Post reports that a middle-aged black, at approximately 12:30 pm, was seen getting wheeled out on a gurney through Terminal D, where the jet's passengers were being treated and examined.
With regards to the plane, emergency responders sprayed foam on the fuel leaking MD-88 jet to prevent possible fires.
The plane, Delta Flight 1086 from Atlanta, was landing when the incident occurred. At roughly 11:00 am the airplane slid off the side of Runway 13, and crashed into the Flushing Bay seawall, where it's broken nose hung over.
A photo posted by Fábio J. Rocha (@fabio.j.rocha) on Mar 5, 2015 at 8:44am PST
One passenger, Sam Stern, age 64, was seated in the emergency-exit row when the accident happened, and pulled the emergency window out so all those inside could escape.
After the fact, he said, "We came in for landing, the plane hit the ground. As it started to apply the brakes, it started skidding. It didn't spin around or anything," adding, "It ended up hitting the embankment. The wing broke off."
He went on to say, "I'm fine, I hurt my back. Everybody was shaken up, but everyone remained calm and was very caring about everybody else."
Shortly after the accident, Delta Air Lines released this statement to the press:
"Customers deplaned via aircraft slides and have moved to the terminal on buses. Our priority is ensuring our customers and crew members are safe. Delta will work with all authorities and stakeholders to look into what happened in this incident."
