Miracle escape for passengers and crew as plane crashes and splits in three

A BOEING 737 jetliner with 131 people aboard crashed as it prepared to land and broke into three pieces at a Colombian island in the Caribbean early yesterday. The region’s governor said it was a miracle that only one person died.

Colombian Air Force Colonel David Barrero said officials were investigating reports the plane had been hit by lightning before crashing at 0649 GMT on San Andres Island, a resort area of 78,000 people about some 190 kilometres east of the Nicaraguan coast.

San Andres governor Pedro Gallardo said 125 passengers and six crew members had been aboard, but the only person killed was Amar Fernandez de Barreto, 68.