Passengers tell of US jet-crash terror

Passengers on the American Airlines plane that overshot the runway in Jamaica and stopped just seconds away from the sea told of their terrifying ordeal today.

Flight 331 had endured the crowded airports and delays of holiday travel, and were moments from their Caribbean destination early yesterday, when suddenly everything seemed to spin out of control.

Touching down in fierce rain, the Boeing 737-800 slammed into the runway of Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport.

The aircraft skidded to a halt at the edge of the sea, leaving battered and bruised passengers screaming in panic as the smell of jet fuel spread through the darkened cabin, which had cracked open in places.

“I just wanted to get the hell out of there, as far as I could, because I could smell the fumes, and I knew that if it blew, it could be a pretty big fireball,” said Gary Wehrwein, 67, who was travelling with his wife Pilar Abaurrea, from Keene, New Hampshire.

All 154 people aboard survived, with 92 taken to hospital and 13 admitted, but none of the injuries was considered to be life-threatening, said Jamaican information minister Daryl Vaz. One woman had surgery for a broken nose and cuts to her face.

Seventy-six of the passengers were Americans.

The plane came to a halt on the sandy edge of an airport access road, and transport minister Mike Henry described it as a “Christmas miracle”.

“If the plane was going faster it would have gone into the sea,” Henry said.

Yesterday, as soldiers stood around the wrecked jet, the damage was clear: the fuselage was cracked open, its left main landing gear had collapsed, and its nose was crushed and pointing off towards the sea.

There was no immediate explanation for what caused the plane to overshoot the runway.

The “black box” flight data recorder from the plane was retrieved and will be taken to the US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory in Washington.

Sam Mayer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines, said the pilot and first officer were “pretty beat up” but were released after being treated for injuries. The pair had already flown from Miami to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and back before the Jamaica flight, he said.

Flight 331 took off from Miami International Airport at 8.52pm on Tuesday, local time – about an hour late – and arrived at Norman Manley International at 10.22pm. It originated at Reagan National Airport in Washington.

The jet had a crew of six and 148 passengers, many of them Jamaicans coming home for Christmas, officials said.

Passengers said the in-flight turbulence forced the crew to halt the beverage service three times before finally giving up.

Before descending the pilot warned of more turbulence but said it likely wouldn’t be much worse, Ms Abaurrea said.

“All of a sudden, when it hit the ground, the plane was kind of bouncing. Someone said the plane was skidding and there was panic,” she said.

Mr Wehrwein said there was no time to feel afraid. Immediately after impact, he was hit in the back by a panel that fell from the interior ceiling and then the jet came to an abrupt halt.

“I wasn’t thinking I was going to die. I said, ’Oh my God, we crashed’, then I got hit,” he said.

He and his wife recalled a hissing sound in the darkness, perhaps from the release of oxygen, people crying out and the smell of fumes and a mad scramble to get out of the rear emergency exit with the help of the shouting flight crew.

“To me, it’s a miracle to be alive,” Mr Wehrwein said. “So, I’m just grateful for that.”

Opera singer Paul Williamson, 37, visiting his native Jamaica from his home in Toronto, Canada, said he was frightened when he noticed the plane’s wheels did not seem to touch down right away and he got into a crash position in his seat near the front of the plane.

“Next thing I know, I hear a crashing sound, then the sound of twisting metal. It all happened so fast, but when the plane came to rest, that’s when the screaming and the carrying on started,” Mr Williamson said.

Natalie Morales Hendricks told NBC’s Today programme the plane began to skid and “before I knew it, everything was black and we were crashing”.

“Everybody’s overhead baggage started to fall. Literally, it was like being in a car accident. People were screaming, I was screaming,” she said.

“There was smoke and debris everywhere,” after the plane halted, she said.

Dazed passengers waited an hour before straggling out of the airport, many with bruises and cuts.

While flights have resumed from the airport, bigger carriers such as Virgin and British Airways will be diverted to the Donald Sangster airport in Montego Bay.