A charter plane carrying 143 people from the U.S. military base in Cuba to north Florida ended up in a river off the end of a runway Friday night, and while some passengers were hospitalized, no critical injuries or deaths were reported, officials said. A Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office posted on Twitter that a marine unit responded to assist. The plane was in shallow water and not submerged. Everyone on the plane was alive and accounted for, the agency posted, with 21 adults transported to local hospitals in good condition. A photo posted by deputies shows a Miami Air International logo on the plane. The company didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. Capt. Michael Connor, the commanding officer of NAS Jacksonville, said during a news conference that passengers were a mix of civilian and military personnel. Some were staying in the area, while others were set to fly on to other parts of the country. While the crash certainly wasn’t ideal, Connor acknowledged that it could have been much worse. “I think it is a miracle,” Connor said. “We could be talking about a different story this evening.” It wasn’t known how long it would take to remove the plane from the river, but Connor said the landing gear appeared to be resting on the river bed, making it unlikely for the aircraft to float away. He said crews began working to contain any jet fuel leaks almost immediately after securing the passengers’ safety. Liz Torres told the Florida Times-Union that she heard what sounded like a gunshot Friday night from her home in Orange Park, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of NAS Jacksonville. She then drove down to a Target parking lot where police and firefighters were staging to find out more. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department posted on Twitter that approximately 90 personnel responded to the scene, adding that the department’s special operations team had trained with marine units for a similar incident earlier Friday. Navy security and emergency response personnel were on the scene and monitoring the situation, the Navy release said. Family members who were expecting the arrival of passengers were instructed to stand by. Officials did not immediately say what caused the plane to leave the runway. Boeing BA, +0.26% said in a tweet Friday night that it was investigating: “We are aware of an incident in Jacksonville, Fla., and are gathering information.” The Federal Aviation Administration was referring media inquiries to NAS Jacksonville. Connor said National Transportation Safety Board investigators were already on their way.<doc-sep>More than 140 passengers have managed to escape from a plane crash as a Boeing 737 jet slipped off a runway and into a river. More than 140 passengers have managed to escape from a plane crash as a Boeing 737 jet slipped off a runway and into a river.... A Boeing 737 jet has skidded and crashed off a runway in a major incident at an airport in Florida. In a miracle rescue, it has been reported all 136 passengers and seven crew on board the aircraft survived the crash. The incident, which occured at about 9.40pm on Friday, saw the Boeing aircraft skid in to the St Johns River in Jacksonville in the north east of the state. There were two “very minor” injuries, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane was operated by Miami Air International which is not a major US airline. It is believed the 737 had been chartered by the Department of Defence in the US and was landing after a flight from the naval bases at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. #JSO Marine Unit was called to assist @NASJax_ in reference to a commercial airplane in shallow water. The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for. pic.twitter.com/4n1Fyu5nTS — Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) May 4, 2019 737 plane goes into water at #NASJax In #Jacksonville. ➡️Everyone off safely, no major injuries. ➡️Plane flying from Guantanamo Bay pic.twitter.com/tomiLfAiv2 — Bridgette Matter (@bridgetteANjax) May 4, 2019 A spokesman for Naval Air Station Jacksonville told Reuters that no fatalities had been reported. The flight had arrived from Naval Station Guantánamo Bay and went into the river at the end of the runway at about 9:40pm Friday local time, 11.40am Saturday AEST. The mayor of Jacksonville said on Twitter that everyone on board the flight was “alive and accounted for” but that crews were working to control jet fuel on the water. Cheryl Bormann, who was reportedly on the flight, told CNN host Don Lemon that the plane landed during a thunderstorm and then “bounced.” “It was terrifying,” she said. “But everybody we pretty calm...everybody helped everybody else.” It is understood Ms Bormann and the other passengers got in to rafts, however weren’t sure if they’d landed in a river or an ocean. There are unconfirmed reports several pets crated in the luggage section of the plane didn’t survive the crash. Unconfirmed report that pets were on the Jacksonville flight that didn't make it https://t.co/25sCyXkyEs — Steve Lookner (@lookner) May 4, 2019 We are aware of an incident in Jacksonville, Fla. and are gathering information. — Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) May 4, 2019 President Donald Trump called to offer help as the situation was developing, the mayor said. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing tweeted they were “aware of an incident in Jacksonville and are gathering information”. While the plane is a 737 it is not a 737 Max jet which has been grounded following two crashes.<doc-sep>All pets stored in the cargo hold of a Boeing 737 are thought to be dead after the military-chartered plane crash-landed on a runway in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday night and skidded into a river, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy in Jacksonville. All 143 people on board the plane survived and sustained no life-threatening injuries. The jet, which had departed from Guantanamo Bay and was operated by charter airline Miami Air International, crashed at 9:40 p.m. after passing through thunderstorms, according to CNN. It’s unknown if the weather had anything to do with the rough landing. Passengers told reporters that after a hard landing on the runway, the plane bounced, swerved, and then crashed into the water in the middle of a storm. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The passengers on board were a collection of active-duty military members, their family members, and government employees. Many were traveling home to see their families. Passengers took to the wings of the plane to await rescue, and firefighters helped ferry them to safety with rafts. Twenty-one of the people on board were sent to the hospital for minor injuries. A commanding officer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville said at a press conference that the landing and the survival of all the passengers and crew amounted to a “miracle.” “We could be talking about a different story this evening,” he said. The jet did not fully sink into the water, as it came to a stop in a shallow portion of the river, but the bottom of it—including the cargo hold, where the pets were held—was submerged. It’s not yet known how many pets were on the flight, but there were at least four. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash landing. As a result, the jet has been left untouched on the site, and passengers have not yet been able to retrieve their luggage. Authorities have not yet said what caused the plane to end up in the river.<doc-sep>
MIAMI: A Boeing 737 skidded off a runway into a river after crash-landing during a lightning storm in Florida on Friday, officials said, with terrified passengers all safely evacuated to shore from the stricken jet´s wings. The plane carrying 143 people including crew from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba slammed into shallow water next to a naval air station in Jacksonville after a hard landing that saw the plane bounce and swerve down the runway, passengers said. No fatalities or critical injuries were reported. "As we went down ... the plane bounced and screeched and bounced more and lifted to the right and then it lifted to the left," Cheryl Bormann, a defense attorney who was on board the flight, told CNN. "And then it sort of swerved and then it came to a complete crash stop." Some oxygen masks deployed and overhead lockers flew open during the landing, she added. Twenty-one adults were taken to local hospitals, but none were critically injured, Jacksonville sheriff´s office said on Twitter. Others were treated for minor injuries at the scene. Captain Michael Connor, commanding officer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, told a news conference early Saturday it was a "miracle" no more serious injuries or fatalities had occurred. "We could be talking about a different story this evening, so I think there´s a lot to say about, you know, the professionalism of the folks that helped the passengers off the airplane ... it very well could be worse," he said. All 136 passengers and seven aircrew on board had been accounted for, NAS Jacksonville said in a statement. However, there were fears for a number of pet animals travelling in the plane´s luggage compartment. The pets had "not been retrieved yet due to safety issues with the aircraft", NAS Jacksonville said in an update on Facebook Saturday. ´Lightning and thunder´ Images showed the Miami Air International plane lying partially submerged in water after the crash-landing, with its nose cone missing. Passengers in life vests were instructed to clamber onto the wings of the jet before being transported to shore aboard inflatable life rafts, Bormann said. "We couldn´t tell where we were, a river or an ocean. There was rain coming down. There was lightning and thunder. We stood on that wing for a significant period of time," she told CNN. Navy security and emergency response personnel including some 90 firefighters attended the scene. Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry tweeted that the White House had called to offer assistance as the situation was developing. "All alive and accounted for. Our Fire and Rescue teams are family to all," said Curry. Teams were working to control jet fuel spilling into the St Johns River, he added. The "Rotator" flight from the US base in Cuba carries passengers including military personnel and family members. The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday a team was being sent to investigate the incident. Boeing said it was aware of the incident and providing technical assistance to the agency as it conducts its probe. The plane involved was a Boeing 737-800, in operation for 18 years, according to website FlightRadar24. US aerospace giant Boeing is under scrutiny following two crashes that killed a total of 346 passengers and crew and grounded its newer 737 MAX planes worldwide. Both a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October, and March´s Ethiopian Airlines crash outside Addis Ababa, occurred shortly after takeoff.