Six injured after plane experienced ‘technical difficulties,’ according to airport officials
UPDATE: Six people were injured after a Fly Jamaica plane on a flight from Guyana to Toronto crash landed overnight at Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
Flight OJ256 left from Cheddi Jagan International Airport, near the Guyanese capital of Georgetown, with 120 passengers — including two infants — and eight crew aboard shortly after 1 a.m. ET.
Eighty-two of the passengers are Canadian citizens, according to local media reports that cited David Patterson, Guyana’s minister of public infrastructure.
About 11 minutes into the flight, the pilot indicated the plane was experiencing problems with its hydraulic system, Guyana officials said at a Friday morning news conference. The aircraft returned to Cheddi Jagan, where it crash-landed, eventually leaving the runway.
Those injured are in non-life-threatening condition and being treated in hospital.
Ontario passenger contacts daughter
Rabina Roopnarine awoke to a call from her mother, Bebe Ali, who was among those on the plane. Ali, a resident of Brampton, Ont., flew to Georgetown two weeks ago for her brother’s funeral. She was supposed to land at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport at 7 a.m. ET. Friday.
Ali used a flight attendant’s cell phone to contact her daughter from the hospital shortly after the crash landing. Roopnarine said she was told the plane was filled with smoke and passengers were trying to force their way off.
Ali injured her neck and back sliding down the emergency chute, her daughter said.
“She just wants to come home,” Roopnarine said.
She said Fly Jamaica has been providing frequent updates via its social media channels.
Local police have cordoned off part of the airport and an investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway, according to officials. A representative from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is expected to assist in the probe.
Patterson is expected to provide an update on the incident at 9 a.m.
Two infants were among the 120 passengers on board, according to officials in Guyana.
