Boeing 757-200 aircraft carrying mail and parcels, was cut in two yesterday, Thursday, while attempting to emergency landing at the Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. The accident caused no casualties, but resulted in the temporary closure of the airport, authorities said.
«The two people» who made up the crew of the 757 «are in good health,» Costa Rican fire chief Hector Chavez told the press.
The two Guatemalan pilots were taken to a hospital as a precaution to undergo tests, said Guido Vasquez, a Red Cross rescue team member.
The 757 of German transport company DHL had taken off 25 minutes earlier from San Jose airport, bound for Guatemala, when the captain informed the control tower that he was experiencing a problem with the hydraulic systems and asked for permission to turn around, explained Julian Beyard, director of operations and security at the public company AERIS, which manages the airport.
While making an emergency landing, shortly before 19:30 (GMT), the 757 went off the runway and was cut in two.
The accident «completely paralysed the operation of Juan Santamaría airport in terms of both arrivals and departures», explained Beyard. 32 passenger flights to and from the US, Central America, Mexico, Canada and Europe will be affected, as well as two cargo flights. Operations at the airport are expected to be restored today after the damaged 757 is removed from the runway.
The newspaper La Nación uploaded photos to its Twitter account showing the yellow 757 with the DHL logo with its left wing broken, cut in two at the tail section, as firefighters poured foam on it, with part of it on the runway and the rest on the grass.
