All 157 passengers and six crew members are safe following a plane crash that split the fuselage in two on Caribbean Airlines Flight BW523 early in the morning on July 30.
The accident occurred at 1:23a.m. at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown, Guyana on a Boeing 757 that had originated in New York’s JFK and stopped on route at Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Both the airline and the government are investigating the crash landing. According to onsite reports, the plane was unable to come to a stop, ran off the entire runway and crashed into a grassy patch. A rain-slicked runway is being blamed.
One eyewitness saw the back wheels of the plane touchdown and then become unstable as the front wheels hit the ground. A passenger noted that directly prior to the accident the aircraft stopped and then sped up again as if to take off.
Runway accidents similar to these are the kind that international air-safety experts have recently been working to prevent. The main hazard comes when planes are unable to stop on slick strips. According to one expert, accidents and incidents like these may account for as much as 45 percent of the overall safety risks facing the global industry.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport was in the process of upgrading the systems that help pilots to land, but not all the systems were operating yet at the time of the crash.
Following the crash landing, passengers had to jump out of the back door of the plane because the emergency chute was not deployed. Passengers suffered broken hands, ankles and mild head injuries from the crash. Several received treatment at the local hospital.
Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo visited the scene of the crash and spoke with the passengers. The airport was closed on Saturday morning and one flight was canceled but operations resumed by noon that day.
Caribbean Airlines has dispatched officials to the airport to assist with the investigation and to provide support to the passengers. The airline has compensated each of the passengers with $500. In a press conference, the airline confirmed that the Civil Aviation authority will be leading the investigation with assistance from other aviation and government bodies.
By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com.
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