an airplane ended in a river but they all survived

A charter plane, with 143 people on board, from the US Guantánamo military base in Cuba, landed during a thunderstorm and found itself in a river at the end of the runway. Jacksonville Military Airport, North Florida. Nobody died, but 21 pbadengers had to be hospitalized for minor injuries.

The Boeing 737 landed at night and in the middle of a violent storm at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville. The plane bounced repeatedly against the runway and eventually found itself in the water of the St. Johns River. Everyone on board got on the wings and waited to be rescued.

Among the pbadengers were civilians and soldiers, said Captain Michael Connor, commander of the Jacksonville base, during a press conference. "I think it's a miracle," said Connor, who acknowledged that the situation could have been worse. "We could talk about a very different story tonight."

The aircraft of the company Miami Air International, which mainly transported military, was trying to land on Friday night when it went off the track and found itself at the airport. 39; water. Lawyer Cheryl Bormann, a pbadenger on the plane, told CNN that the plane, which was four hours late, had made a "very difficult landing" in the midst of thunder and lightning. . "We went down, the plane literally hit the ground and it bounced back, it was clear that the pilot did not have total control of the plane, he bounced back again", a- he declared. The experience was "terrifying", admitted the pbadenger, who hit her head with a plastic tray from the front seat when the aircraft turned to the side and left the track. "We were in the water, we did not know if it was the ocean or a river," continued the lawyer.

According to the pbadenger explained, the aircraft was evacuated in the wing when the oxygen masks were deployed while the fuel from the aircraft that seemed to sink on the water sniffed. Then a raft went to save them. The police and a hundred firefighters reacted to the emergency situation. Among his duties, he had to control the fuel from the plane and prevent it from catching fire. Specifically, the special operations unit of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Service had been training alongside maritime units for a similar incident a week ago.

There were also several pets in the plane and their condition was not clear immediately. A statement from the navy sent "prayers" to their owners, saying security issues prevented rescuers from immediately recovering the animals.

The authorities did not know at the moment what had caused the plane to leave the track. In a tweet posted Friday night, Boeing said he was collecting information.

The flight was a scheduled flight operated by Miami Air International, which had numerous contracts with the military, including weekly flights between the US Air Base in Cuba and Jacksonville Air Force Base, as well as Andrews Air Force Base. in Maryland.

The United States still holds 40 men in the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center, five of whom are accused of planning and badisting the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It is unclear for the moment when the plane will be removed. From the river, but according to Connor, the landing gear seemed to sit on the bed, which makes it unlikely that the aircraft floats and drifts.