And hours before the PM's flight landed in Belize, an American Airlines flight destined for El Salvador had to make an emergency landing at the PGIA. According to authorities, the call was made out of precaution after one of the engines suffered a failure. Courtney Menzies was at the airport and has the details.
Just after 11:00 today, the PGIA received a distress call from AAL327, aboard an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 flight from Miami to El Salvador. The airplane was 125 miles east of Belize when the captain declared a full emergency based on an engine problem and requested permission to make an emergency landing in Belize.
Emergency teams, including rescue, fire and ambulance, were mobilized but none of it was needed because the distress call was made out of what we are told was an "abundance of precaution. It landed on the tarmac at 11:30 with no incident or injuries.
But what of the 177 passengers on board? Well, up until this evening, they were still at the PGIA, awaiting another American Airlines flight to arrive to take them to their destination.
Authorities are now investigating the possible engine malfunction while the aircraft remains grounded at the PGIA.
Information used in that story came from the Department of Civil Aviation.
