Plane crashes, gets struck by lightning, breaks into three parts, one man dies from a heart attack

This is the story of a plane crash that happened in Bogota, Colombia this Monday just gone. The plane was 80 metres from the ground, attempting to land during an electrical storm, when it got struck by lightning, split in half, later breaking again into three parts, yet managed to stay on the runway. There was only one casualty, a 68-year old, Amar Fernandez de Barreto, who had a heart attack as he was being taken to hospital. 119 people were taken to hospital but not one with a serious injury. This is the description of the landing from one of the newspapers:

The aircraft skidded on its belly with its fuselage fracturing, its landing gear and at least one engine ripping off after attempting to land in a severe thunderstorm.

And this is a quote from one of the passengers of the incident:

“The pilot informed us we were going to land in San Andres, we buckled our seat belts, settled in – and a second later, boom! A big bang. When my wife and I stood and looked behind us the back of the plane was missing.”

This is a picture of the plane following the crash:

The pilot has been deemed something of a hero for this, managing to keep the plane steady and on the right track despite the electrical storm, the supposedly high winds, the lightning strike and the fact that the plane was in three pieces on the runway. It’s the kind of plane crash you wouldn’t mind being involved in. It would definitely make a good story for the grandkids!

More from this story can be read at Mercopress here.