NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) — A Delta Airlines MD-88, landing in a snowstorm at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, skidded on the runway and crashed into an embankment Thursday.
The flight, Delta Airlines 1086, left Atlanta Thursday morning. After landing in New York, it crashed through a fence before striking the embankment on the airport’s Runway 13.
Passengers climbed onto a broken wing to evacuate the plane, then were helped to the ground by rescue crews. There were no reports of injuries to any of the 125 passengers or five crew members, but reports of a fuel leak caused emergency vehicles to surround the plane.
The airport has remained closed since the incident.
Delta said, in a statement, all passengers left the plane safely and were transported to the LaGuardia terminal.
About three inches of snow had fallen in New York by 11:10 a.m., the time of the accident. About 15 minutes earlier, the National Weather Service reported the temperature at the airport was 26 degrees, with visibility of one-quarter mile. The wind, sleet and snow caused slippery paved surfaces.