GEORGETOWN, Guyana - A Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight, carrying 157 passengers, and 6 crew members, skidded off the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) in Guyana in the early hours of this morning, causing several injuries but no deaths.
The CAL flight BW 523 a Boeing 737-800 aircraft split into two at about 1:32am this morning, after crashing through the airport perimeter fence.
The plane apparently overshot the 7,448-foot (2270.15-metre) asphalt runway at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in rainy weather. It barely missed a 200-foot (61-meter) ravine that could have resulted in dozens of fatalities
The flight BW 523 had departed from the JFK Airport, and had stopped at the Piarco Airport in Trinidad, prior to landing at the CJIA.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority has closed the Cheddi Jagan Aerodrome until 10.00hrs while an investigation is being conducted. Perimeter around aircraft has been secured and is being guarded by the Guyana Defence Force and Police Officials.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago, who has visited the wreckage, and whose government owns Caribbean Airlines, has stated that the safety record of the airline, remains intact.
"Caribbean Airlines and its previous incarnation BWEE's (BWIA) 64-year-old safety record remains intact," Persad-Bissessar said on arrival back at Piarco International Airport yesterday, after visiting Elliot and other injured passengers in Guyana on Saturday. Do you agree? Has the prime minister under-estimated the damage here?
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