AUTONEWS

Use: Boeing goes off the track and ends up in a river in Florida, 21 injured


Sat, 4 May 2019 08:38:08 +0200

A Boeing 737 ends off the track in Jacksonville and lands in the neighboring river, the St. Johns. The aircraft came from the base of Guantanamo, in Cuba, and had 136 passengers and crew on board: according to reports in the American media, they were all rescued even though twenty, the authorities say, were taken to hospital in following minor injuries. The aircraft, leased by the Department of Defense, was operated by Miami Air International, a charter airline that flies from Guantanamo to the bases in Jacksonville and Norfolk, Virginia. Its flights usually host soldiers who are moved from one base to another and members of their families. Relief came immediately to the scene and, after bringing the military and their families to safety on board, they are still at work trying to contain the fuel spill in the river. The accident would have been caused by bad weather but the precise causes are still unknown. For Boeing it is a new grain after the grounding of the entire 737 Max fleet. The aviation giant claims to be aware of the incident and to be at work collecting all the necessary information on the incident. The White House was also informed of the incident and, according to Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, offered its help. "It was understood that there were problems. The oxygen masks have come down. But all of them were relatively calm, thanks also to the professionalism of the crew, "says Cheryl Bormann, one of the passengers of the plane that ended up in the river, on the phone with CNN. "We didn't know if we had ended up in a river or in the ocean. It was tremendous ", adds Bormann evidently shaken by the incident. The passengers rescued and not injured are currently in a hangar of the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville.