Lima, 19 Nov. The fire truck that collided with a Latam plane on the runway of the Jorge Chávez international airport, which serves Lima, had a training exercise scheduled, but it left the route, according to what the airport authorities announced this Saturday.
The collision of the truck with the ship on Friday caused the death of two aeronautical firefighters and serious injuries to a third member, and unleashed chaos in that terminal because all flights were diverted to other cities or suspended.
The president of the board of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (Corpac), Jorge Salinas, confirmed at a press conference that the firefighters responded that day to a scheduled exercise, which had been designed in a different area, although close to the runway. landing.
“We were aware of the exercise, but it was approved to do it outside the area,” Salinas said.
The official added that “there is no authorization for any vehicle to enter the landing strip, there is authorization to carry out an exercise, but in an area outside the landing strip.”
In this sense, Salinas remarked that it was “an incursion on the track for which we do not know the reasons.”
According to the airport security images, the firefighters left with two other vehicles from an emergency station and headed towards the runway, but the official specified that they had to drive along a parallel road and make a turn regarding 100 meters before the place. of the crash.
Salinas clarified that the airport concessionaire Lima Airport Partners (LAP) has scheduled emergency exercises to complete the necessary protocols to start up the second control tower and the second landing strip next January.
For his part, the representative of LAP, José de la Cruz, said at the press conference that the runway suffered various depth and length damage, but that the rehabilitation work is underway and they hope to resume operations at zero hours on Sunday (5.00 GMT).
In turn, the president of the Aviation Accident Investigation Commission, Carlos Portocarrero, explained that there are three investigators in charge of the accident who have come to collect information and evidence in the aircraft, the control tower and the emergency area. fire protection.
He also announced that on Monday six researchers from the Airbus company will arrive in Lima from France and another two from Chile because the Latam ship has a license plate from that country.
Portocarrero asked “not to advance any opinion judgment” because the commission is “at the investigation stage” of the accident.EFE
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