The rain was pouring down on the Tocumen International Airport, In Panama. Sirens mingled with cries of concern from passengers on a flight that had departed from Mexico City. And it is that at the moment of landing, the aircraft in which they were traveling suffered an incident which alerted the crew and air personnel.
It was flight CM135, which was in charge of the airline Copa Airlines and had departed from the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) at 5:26 p.m. on Sunday, June 25. After a trip of more than three hours, she arrived in Panama. Although no mishap was reported during the journey, the plane skidded off the runway and had to be evacuated in an emergency.
No time to take your luggage, the more than 150 passengers had to exit the aircraft through the slides and wait in the rain, while the corresponding authorities carried out investigations to clarify the causes of this incident.
“It’s chaos here. People yelling at security and airline personnel because they want to know if they are going to miss their flights, if they are going to feed us or what’s next,” commented one of the passengers identified as Pablo Corona, who shared the moments of anguish that the nationals lived in Panamanian territory.
According to Copa Airlines reports, 159 passengers and 7 crew members were traveling on the flight, which had to be transferred to the terminal to receive attention from the airline staff. People who had made the connection in Panama were informed that they would complete their trip in the next few hours.
Meanwhile, the rest was located in a hotel in the area. No injuries have been reported so far. for these facts. However, the Tocumen International Airport had to close temporarily while specialized personnel were in charge of removing the aircraft from the scene of the incident.
It was a Boeing 737-800NG, with registration HP1539CMP, which, according to local reports, It was more than 12 years old. It was not until the first minutes of Monday, September 26, that the Tocumen airport restarted its operations, despite unfavorable weather conditions.
“Tocumen International Airport informs that it maintains you activate all its operations using the left track 03. In collaboration with the airline COPA, coordination is being made to remove as soon as possible the aircraft that left runway 03 right last night”
In images and videos shared on social networks you can see the uncertainty landscape that the passengers of the flight lived. The aircraft was left to one side of the runway, on a grassy area, while the tires were stuck in the mud.
According to the portal The Aviation Herald, the aircraft landed on runway 03R at 9:12 p.m. Although at first he headed for the right edge, moments later he veered to the left. So it went parallel to the runway and crossed a high-speed detour, until finally stopped regarding 21 meters from the left edge.
Regarding this incident, neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) nor the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, have spoken, so it is not known if the nationals will receive consular assistance and protection. While, The Civil Aeronautics Authority of Panama will carry out the investigations.
It is worth mentioning that Copa Airlines inaugurated this September 26 a route from Panama City to Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), one of the emblematic projects of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
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