Jetliner crashes on Colombian island; 1 killed

Richard Garcia / AP

A plane that crashed on landing broke into three pieces at the airport on San Andres island in Colombia on Monday.

BOGOTA, Colombia — A Boeing 737 jetliner with 131 passengers aboard crashed on landing and broke into three pieces at a Colombian island in the Caribbean early Monday. The region's governor said it was a miracle that only one person died.

Colombian Air Force Col. David Barrero said officials were investigating reports the plane, operated by the local airline Aires, had been hit by lightning before crashing at 1:49 a.m. (3:49 a.m. EDT) while landing at San Andres Island, a resort island of 78,000 people about 120 miles east of the Nicaraguan coast.
San Andres Gov. Pedro Gallardo said 125 passengers and six crew members had been aboard, but the only person killed was Amar Fernandez de Barreto, 65. At least five people were reported injured.
"It was a miracle and we have to give thanks to God," the governor said.
"The plane arriving from Bogota landed in the middle of an intense electrical storm," Barrero, told reporters.
He said that "the skill of the pilot kept the plane from colliding with the airport."
Barrero said the 7,545-foot runway had been closed because parts of the plane were still scattered across it.
The Aires jet had left the Colombian capital of Bogota at about midnight.
Police Gen. Orlando Paez said by telephone that a group of police officers who had been waiting at the airport for the plane to take them back to the Colombian mainland aided in rescuing the victims.
The injured were taken to local hospitals.
"The captain of the airliner (pilot) told us it was struck by lightning. We are inspecting the remains of the plane to try to establish what the damages were and what caused the accident," said Donald Tascon, deputy director of Colombia's aeronautics authority.
Medics on the scene told El Tiempo newspaper that the fatality was a passenger suffered a heart attack and died on her way to the hospital.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.