(San José) A cargo plane transporting mail and parcels broke in two Thursday during an emergency landing on the runway of the airport in San José, Costa Rica. The accident caused no casualties but caused the temporary closure of the airport, authorities said.
Posted at 9:47 a.m.
“The two people (who were on board) are in good health,” Costa Rican fire chief Hector Chaves told reporters.
The two crew members, of Guatemalan nationality, were transported as a precaution to a hospital for examination, said Guido Vasquez, a Red Cross first aider.
The plane, a Boeing-757 of the German group DHL, had taken off for 25 minutes from San José airport bound for Guatemala when the pilot reported a problem with the hydraulic system and asked to turn back, according to Julian Belliard, director of operations and security of the public company Aeris which manages the airport.
During the emergency landing, the aircraft skidded, left the runway and broke in two.
The accident caused the total paralysis of operations at Juan Santamaria airport (in San José), the largest in the country, for 5:30 am, impacting a hundred flights and 8,500 passengers.
The activity of the airport has returned to normal, “both for arrivals and for departures”, then indicated Ricardo Hernandez, general manager of Aeris, the public company which manages the airport.