Red Air Plane In Flames: Officials arrived in Miami on Wednesday to check on a passenger jet that caught fire as it touched down at the US city’s international airport, forcing more than 100 people to flee the burned and damaged plane.
Three people were hospitalized after Red Air Flight 203 crashed late Tuesday, but none of them have been reported dead or seriously injured, according to Miami-Dade fire officials.
Dramatic video footage showed people being evacuated from a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 plane, slanting on the runway and thick black smoke billowing from its body.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the US government agency that investigates civil aviation accidents, said the plane’s left main landing gear collapsed during landing.
The aircraft “departed from the runway” before resting in a grassy area, it said, with fire on its right side.
Red Air, a Dominican budget carrier that was launched only in November last year, said it encountered “technical difficulties” when the plane was arriving from Santo Domingo.
Investigators were able to recover the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft. They will also check runway markings and physical environment.
Red Air and the NTSB said there were 130 passengers and 10 crew on board.
