NEW YORK: An airliner skidded off a runway at New York's La Guardia airport on Thursday and slid to a halt just yards from frigid waters, as a snow storm battered the US coast from Texas to Boston.
Heavy snow was falling as Delta flight 1086 from Atlanta careered off the runway, plowed up an embankment and demolished a fence after its late-morning landing in hazardous conditions.
New York firefighters said 24 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including three who were transported from the scene. The McDonnell Douglas MD-88 was carrying 127 passengers and five crew.
Video footage showed shaken passengers climbing gingerly out of the plane through an exit over a wing and trudging through thick snow. The plane's nose jutted through the fence, suspended above the icy East River.
Passengers recounted panic as the plane failed to break after landing.
"We knew something was wrong because you didn't feel the wheels take and we started to skid," Jared Faellaci told CNN.
"I'm definitely shaken up, I cried, shed some tears, and obviously I'm just reflective and grateful."
Another passenger, Jaime Primak, tweeted: "We just crash landed at LGA. I'm terrified. Please."
She added later: "We have all been evacuated. Everyone is safe. Thank you for your prayers. God is good."
It was the most dramatic incident on a day in which a huge winter storm forced thousands of flight cancellations and disrupted life across a broad swath of the United States.
In Washington DC, government workers were ordered to stay home, schools were closed, and museums shuttered for the day as icy rain turned to heavy snow, leaving the US capital looking like a ghost town.
Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York were expected to get as much as eight inches of snow, with temperatures dipping well below average in much of the region.
Airports experienced travel chaos, with more than 4,500 flights canceled by Thursday afternoon, spelling travel misery for many.
Comments
Comments are closed.