On Friday evening, may 3, the aircraft a Boeing 737, owned by Miami Air International, during an attempt in a thunderstorm to land at the airfield of the military base slid into strips in a shallow river St. Johns in Jacksonville (FL). On Board were 143 passengers, including 7 crew members.
The Jacksonville mayor, lenny Curry in his Twitter wrote that message about the dead was not. There was also no information about a critical injury. The incident resulted in injuries to 21 people – all of them were taken to a local hospital and, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, are currently in good condition.
#JSO Marine Unit was called to assist @NASJax_ in reference to a commercial airplane in shallow water. The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for. pic.twitter.com/4n1Fyu5nTS
— Jax Sheriff’s Office (@JSOPIO) May 4, 2019
As reported by local authorities, the plane was not completely flooded. At the scene quickly the rescue services arrived.
Mayor Curry later wrote that he called President of the United States Donald trump and offered to help.
Boeing made the flight from Guantanamo Bay (Cuba). The plane slid off the runway into the river at about 21:40. Landing occurred during a severe thunderstorm.
Lawyer Cheryl Bormann, one of the passengers, said in an interview with CNN that the flight was delayed for 4 hours, during the flight the air conditioning was not working and they were flying through thunder and lightning. But the worst started during a landing — Boeing made a «really hard landing» in Jacksonville among the thunder and lightning.
«The pilot tried to control it,» — said Borman. «The plane… literally hit the ground and then rebounded. It was clear that the pilot has no control over the plane because it [the plane] a little hop, took him in and he began to lean left and right. The pilot tried to control it but couldn’t, and suddenly it [the plane] was hit».
The woman added that the passengers on Board knew what happened and didn’t know where they were – they could only assume that they are in the river or in the ocean. People didn’t panic as the crew recovered quickly and acted according to the instructions. All wore life jackets, got on the wing and with a raft moved to a safe place.
It is reported that Miami Air International is a Charter company operating a fleet of Boeing 737-800. The representative of the military base in Jacksonville bill Doherty said that Miami Air International signed a contract with the military: every Tuesday and Friday, the company’s aircraft are bilateral flight from the naval base Norfolk (Virginia) in the Jacksonville and Cuba. On this flight flew not only American servicemen, but also members of their families, and civilian and the person who carried out different works for the Pentagon.
The airline said that they know about the incident and are currently gathering information. They note that this is different from Boeing 737 models, Boeing 737 Max 8, which crashed recently in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
