An Embraer 190 aircraft operated by AeroRepública overran the runway and went into the Caribbean Sea yesterday afternoon at Santa Marta, in northwestern Colombia. Flight 7330 had just arrived on a scheduled flight from Cali with five crew and 54 passengers on board. All were evacuated from the aircraft using emergency slides. Although several individuals (some news reports say seven, others say 6) received injuries that required medical attention, there were no fatalities.An AFP article about the accident (plus photo) published by The Age in Australia reported a passenger's brief account of what had occurred:
One of the passengers, Antonio Jose Valencia, said the accident happened on the second landing attempt, when the plane touched down halfway down the runway.FlightGlobal.com's report about the AeroRepública accident notes that the aircraft, registration number HK-4455, entered service with the airline this past January.
"The runway was wet, and with all that wind the plane could not stop and went straight before turning on its side with its nose ending up in the water," he said.
[Photo Source]
