A plane skidded off an icy runway into a fence at New York’s LaGuardia Airport today while landing during a winter storm, shutting down the airport’s runways, officials said.
Delta Flight 1086, an MD-88 arriving from Atlanta, skidded off Runway 13 around 11:05 a.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
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Credit: @SteveBlaze98/Twitter. PHOTO: A photo posted to Twitter shows passengers disembarking from a Delta plane …
The Port Authority confirmed that all 127 passengers and five crew members, “were safely taken off plane.”
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NOW: #ESU #Harbor @FDNY PAPD at #LGA. Minor fuel spill. All passengers removed. Minor injuries @Delta @nycoem pic.twitter.com/SbYRLV9FLI
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) March 5, 2015
At least 28 passengers had non-life threatening injuries, of those injured five people were transported to hospitals, according to the Fire Department of New York.
a plane just slid off the runway at LaGuardia Airport… pic.twitter.com/LRoUHcWTsh
— Sarah Wagner (@swags201) March 5, 2015
The runway where the plane landed had been plowed just minutes before and two other pilots reported “good braking action” as they landed, according to Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.
Stuck at LaGuardia. There’s only one thing left to do: play terminal tinder at the airport bar
— Kevin Tschirhart (@KevinTshirt) March 5, 2015
Once the plane landed, it veered sharply left about 4,500 to 5,000 feet down the 7,000-foot runway, skidding off to the side and nearly ending up in the water, according to Foye.
An Instagram video shot shortly after the crash showed a man at the scene leaving in a stretcher.
LaGuardia’s runways were closed for most of the day, but one runway reopened at 2 p.m., according to Foye.
Officials said they were checking for a fuel leak.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced it would send an investigator to secure the flight data recorders and document the damage.
Images of the plane taken by eyewitnesses showed that it apparently crashed through a fence after skidding off the runway.
“Customers deplaned via aircraft slides and have moved to the terminal on buses,” Delta Airlines said in a statement. “Our priority is ensuring our customers and crew members are safe. Delta will work with all authorities and stakeholders to look into what happened in this incident.”
Passengers on the plane included New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell, who said he was “safe and sound” after the crash.
“I feel fine physically and hopefully all the other passengers did not have any significant injuries,” read a portion of Donnell’s statement. “We were all shocked and alarmed when the plane started to skid, but most importantly, as far as I know, all of the passengers and flight crew were able to exit the plane safely.”
An incredible photo was captured by passenger Jared Falleci from inside the plane just after it came to a stop. Falleci told ABC News he had no idea if the plane would stay out of the water as they skidded off the runway.
“I was holding on to the seat in front of me and I was praying,” he told ABC News. “It literally stopped a matter of feet, as you can see from the photos, from the water itself.”
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