Due to the accident, the Public Ministry opened a preliminary investigation to determine the causes. The incident on the airport runway involved a fire truck and a Latam plane.
The accident that occurred this Friday at the Jorge Chávez international airport, which serves Lima and in which a fire truck collided with a plane regarding to take off, has unleashed chaos in air transport in Peru, where more than 200 flights have had to be suspended or rescheduled for the next few days.
The Jorge Chávez International Airport is the most important in the country, since it is the closest to Lima, and serves all the international flights that arrive in the South American nation. in addition to having connections with the 25 Peruvian regions.
Precisely, the expansion of the terminal with a second control tower and a second runway in an area adjacent to the current airport is currently underway.
This Friday followingnoon, the Latam flight 2213 was preparing to take off for the city of Juliaca, in the south of the country, with a hundred passengers, when The aircraft collided with an aeronautical fire truck, which entered the runway unexpectedly and for unknown reasons.
Due to the shocking collision, the right wing of the aircraft caught fire and the cab of the truck was destroyed, causing the death of two aeronautical firefighters and seriously injuring a third.
An operation was immediately activated to deal with the emergency, managing to control the fire on the ship and evacuate passengers and crew, none of whom were seriously injured.
Measures announced by Latam
The Latam Group reiterated that it deeply regrets the death of the aeronautical firefighters Ángel Torres and Nicolás Santa Gadea; and that he is attentive to the medical situation of the third party who is admitted to a health center.
In relation to the operational situation of the Lima International Airport, “the air terminal remains closed by decision of the local authority”said.
In this sense, the airline pointed out to all its passengers who have flights to, from and connecting through the Jorge Chávez International Airport in the city of Lima, that they have the following travel flexibility options:
-Customers with canceled and/or rescheduled flights can request a ticket change up to one (1) year from the date of ticket purchase, without any payment, or request a full refund of their money.
-Customers with flights between November 19 and 21 may request a change at no cost up to 15 days from the original date of the flight, or a full refund of their money.
Passengers will be able to reschedule their flights directly through the “My trips” section on Latam.com. Likewise, it recommends to its passengers that, before going to the airport, they can find out regarding the status of their flight at LATAM.com.
airport closure
As a result of the accident on the runway, the concessionaire company Lima Airport Partners (LAP) announced the closure of operations at that terminal until Saturday at 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT). so that they can proceed with the removal of the wrecked ship and the fire truck, the cleaning of the place and the investigations of the accident.
For his part, the executive director of Latam Airlines in Peru, Manuel Van Oordt, reported at a press conference that “A whole day of cancellation is more than 200 flights affected” and that in the hours following the accident there were 60 flights that were destined for Lima, but that have been diverted to “different parts of Peru and the world.”
We also “activated our contingency plan for them to land in Pisco,” regarding 200 kilometers south of Lima, Van Oordt said of several flights to that city and whose passengers will be transferred to the capital by bus.
The executive clarified that “No emergency was reported” in the crashed ship because it was “in optimal conditions to take off”but “he found a truck on the airstrip”, which should not be in that place.
Regarding the 102 passengers, he added that they all managed to evacuate the plane, took them to health centers, and that “there are no serious injuries.”
Stranded passengers and diverted flights
As detailed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, five flights destined for Lima have been diverted to Pisco, where they remain on the ground, another three to the city of Chiclayo, two to Trujillo, one to Iquitos (from Madrid) and another to Arequipa.
In Iquitos, one of the passengers from Madrid, identified as Jorge, explained to EFE that they were notified of the diversion an hour and a half before landing.
“We are just an hour and a half away from arriving in Lima, on paper, and they tell us through the public address system that there has been an accident at the Lima airport and that we did know Iquitos and that we are going to know it by force,” he said.
On the other hand, the National Superintendence of Migrations reported that, in light of the emergency suffered at the country’s main airport, it has ordered enable immigration controls at all airports to where the international flights have been derived, following the closure of the capital terminal until 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
In the specific case of Pisco, the closest to Lima, the “immigration inspectors are traveling from Lima to control the international flights that arrive,” Migrations added.
Due to the accident, the Public Ministry opened a preliminary investigation to determine the causes of the accident on the airport runway.
After the report of two deceased aeronautical firefighters and one injured, the Prosecutor’s Office seeks to clarify the facts regarding the possible crimes of culpable homicide and culpable injuries, respectively, the prosecutor’s office specified in a message on Twitter.