On Tuesday, June 21, a plane that was landing at Miami International Airport caught fire. At least three people were taken to the hospital as a result.
Approximately 5:30 p.m. saw the arrival of a Red Air flight from the Dominican Republic, which then crashed through a communications tower and a small structure before coming to a stop in a grassy area next to the runway.
According to officials, the plane’s landing gear had a problem and detached during the landing.
At the time of the incident, the aircraft was carrying 11 crew members and 126 passengers.
On the burning right wing of the aircraft, pieces of the demolished communications tower could be seen.
Three people were injured and taken to local hospitals, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
A video shared online shows passengers screaming in terror as they rushed out of the burning plane.
“What happened here is a miracle,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who had landed at the airport on a separate flight.
“Apparently a tire burst, and then it went back up and came back down, and the landing was so hard, that the entire landing apparatus was destroyed and the belly of the plane is on the ground.”
One passenger, Paola Garcia, told the station “I thought I was going to die.
“All the windows were broken, and someone, like, broke his leg and arm. Horrible. The plane was like jumping and jumping and jumping.”
He added: “I started running and I jumped, and I thought it was going to explode.”
Another passenger, Paolo Delgado, said he saw the fire and the smoke before he said he started to smell something.
“People were like, screaming all around. I don’t know, like panic,” said Delgado.
The National Transit Safety Board said it will be at the airport Wednesday morning.