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Jet Bound For Miami Crashes In Honduras

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The Associated Press

Published: May 31, 2008

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A Miami-bound jetliner overshot a runway, raced onto a busy street and slammed into an embankment in the Honduran capital Friday, killing the pilot, two passengers and a motorist.

More than 75 people were injured, including Brazil's ambassador to Honduras, Brian Michael Fraser Neele. Police said he was being treated at a private hospital and his wife was missing.

The nose of the Grupo Taca Airbus 320, which was landing with 124 people on board, smashed into an embankment and its fuselage buckled and broke in places, trapping the pilot and co-pilot inside.

Rescuers had to pry open part of the wreckage to get them out, but the pilot didn't survive, said Cesar Villalta, director of Honduras' military hospital.

Passenger Harry Brautigam, a Nicaraguan who headed a regional development bank, died of heart failure shortly after the crash. The body of a man trapped under the airplane's wreckage was thought to be a taxi driver.

More than 2,000 gallons of fuel spilled, and authorities tried to clear away hundreds of onlookers while they hosed down cars trapped under the plane's left engine.

"The airplane's fuel could cause an explosion, and that would be an even bigger tragedy," said Security Ministry spokesman Ivan Mejia.

Many passengers walked away from the accident.

Roberto Sosa, 34, said: "We landed ... and suddenly I heard a really strong, loud impact."

Mirtila Lopez, 71, said the plane "left the runway, hit electric cables from a nearby street and then got stuck in the side of a small ravine."

The plane left San Salvador at 8:30 a.m. local time carrying passengers mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica. It was scheduled to stop briefly in Tegucigalpa and in San Pedro Sula before heading to Miami.

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