Aires Airline Jet Splits into 3, 1 Dead

Colombia-based carrier Aires experienced a plane crash during the early hours of Monday. The flight crashed while approaching the San Andres airport to land, but bad weather seems to have been the cause of its crash, which left the jet in 3 pieces on the runway.

It’s been reported in a passenger list released by police that there were 127 people on board – 121 passengers and 6 crew – but only a few of them escaped the incident without any injuries, including a boy of only 18 months. Most of the passengers were found by emergency crew scattered on the runway, and Amor de Patria Hospital director Robert Sanchez says that some of them are in critical condition.

Col. Hector Carrascal, the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority’s director of navigation services, said that there were 6 American, 5 French, 4 Brazilian, 4 Costa Rican and 2 German passengers on the flight. The passenger that died has been identified as Amar Fernandez de Barreto.

There have been different reports as to what caused the crash. First, it was reported that a downdraft could have caused it, as it may have shook the plane while it was preparing to land. However, the pilot and Pedro Gallardo, the governor of San Adres y Providencia state, said that the flight was struck by lightning.

Although Carrascal initially said that there wasn’t a storm reported near the airport, CNN World Weather confirmed that there were multiple lightning strikes around the airport during the time of the crash. The World Wide Lightning Location Network also reported that there were 11 strikes during a 5-minute period within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the airport runway.