This morning a Grupo Taca plane skidded off the runway at Tocontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 124 passengers were on board and the death toll is now at 5 with 65 injuries. The plane left San Salvador at 8:30 this morning enroute to Miami. It was scheduled to stop briefly in Tegucigalpa.
Media reports are the plane was attempting to land but due to low visibility from tropical storm Alma the plane missed the runway and slammed into a city street – killing the pilot. The 4 other persons who died were on the ground when the airbus 320 crashed into the embankment. A number of diplomats – were also said to be on the plane. They include the President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration who suffered a heart attack and also died.
So how does this all connect locally? Well there is a Taca flight that left San Salvador this morning bound for Belize on its way to Houston – but that has nothing to do with the ill-fated flight. Taca’s operations in Belize were not affected. We were unable to verify if any Belizeans were on the plane but none have been reported.
Taca has set up a call center.
