An airport close to Costa Rica’s capital was briefly closed Thursday after a DHL cargo airplane break up in two throughout an emergency touchdown, officers mentioned. Nobody was injured.
The airplane, a vibrant yellow B757-200F airliner about 155 toes lengthy, was headed to Guatemala when it was pressured to return to Juan Santamaria Worldwide Airport, northwest of San Jose.
The pilot and first officer on the airplane, which was carrying freight to Guatemala Metropolis, reported a “hydraulic difficulty” shortly after takeoff and needed to land, Daniel McGrath, a DHL spokesman, mentioned on Friday.
Video of the touchdown circulating on social media showed the plane skidding off the runway. Smoke was seen billowing from it after it got here to a cease, and emergency automobiles rushed to the scene.
The airplane “sustained injury” upon touchdown, Claus Korfmacher, a spokesman for DHL, a bundle supply firm primarily based in Germany, mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
Greater than two dozen flights have been both canceled or delayed at Juan Santamaria Worldwide Airport on Thursday, in keeping with FlightAware, a web site that tracks air journey.
Aeris, which manages the airport, said in a short statement on Thursday that flights would resume by 3:30 p.m. native time and that it had labored rapidly with the authorities to handle that morning’s “emergency.”
Photographs confirmed the nostril of the airplane perched upon a hill and a deep separation close to the tail, exposing the cargo and inside. One of many airplane’s wings additionally seemed to be broken. Different photographs extensively circulated on social media showed firefighters spraying sections of the airplane with foam.
Whereas no accidents have been reported, one crew member did bear medical checks as a precaution, Mr. Korfmacher mentioned, including that the corporate was coordinating with the authorities to take away the airplane from the realm close to the runway.
“DHL’s incident response staff has been activated and an investigation shall be performed with the related authorities to find out what occurred,” he mentioned.
