A Latam airline plane collided on the ground with a fire truck and caught fire at Lima airport for causes still under investigation. For the impressive impact two firefighters died and another was injuredbut no one among the crew or passengers of the aircraft was hit.
The commander general of the fire brigade Luis Ponce La Jara confirmed the dead and wounded in the body and explained that the wing of the plane collided with a fire brigade cabin, a fire brigade vehicle.
The airline, for its part, reported minutes earlier that there were no passengers or crew on the plane affected. Both vehicles were moving on the runway at the international airport when the collision occurred on Friday.
“There has been an accident on the runway of Jorge Chávez airport,” Lima Airport Partners, the company that manages the Peruvian airport, confirmed in a statement. “Our teams are paying the necessary attention to all passengers, who are well,” she added, clarifying that the causes are under investigation.
The exact number of passengers traveling on the plane, destined for the city of Juliaca, in the Puno region of southern Peru, was not disclosed.
Operations at the international airport have been suspended as a result of the incident, the company added on its Twitter account, and will continue to do so “until further notice.”
According to the fire brigade, the emergency occurred at 15:25 and four rescue units were mobilised. The aircraft suffered some mechanical problems and started to catch fire.
“It is an emergency on the runway, there are four displaced units. At this moment we do not know technically what happened in this apparent technical failure of the aircraft, we await further reports”, said Mario Casaretto, head of the fire brigade, on the Channel No.
Subsequently it was the same airline which, with a press release, provided an official communication: “Right now we are focusing on supporting passengers and family members. As more confirmed information becomes available, it will be shared as soon as possible”.
For its part, Latam specified that the accident occurred when the plane was taking off (and not landing, as stated by the company operating at the Peruvian airport): “The company is deploying all its human and technical resources for the assistance of those affected,” he concluded.
With information from AFP
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.