“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, we have problems with our left-hand drive. We have two souls on the plane “, the pilots of the aircraft, who both safely escaped from the wreck, were transported by radio to the control tower at the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica, according to an audio published by the newspaper La Nación in Costa Rica. Rica. “We will prepare our plane so that we can make an emergency landing.” Both crew members were taken to hospital for a medical examination and “remember everything vividly,” Red Cross employee Guido Basquet told CBS News. Viewers also captured dramatic footage of the collision. The plane, a Boeing 757-200 bound for Guatemala, reported problems shortly after taking off from San Jose and requested a forced landing. The boat was in a restraint pattern over the airport for almost an hour, according to the flight tracking radar, possibly to run out of fuel before landing. During the landing, the plane slipped and turned 180 degrees, before falling into a ditch and cracking towards its tail section. “The units were mobilized to remove the pilot and co-pilot,” said Hector Chavez, then director of the Costa Rica Fire Department. “Then they applied foam to prevent a leak and now they are working on an earthen embankment to prevent any fuel from reaching the sewer system.” The crash affected 57 different cargo and passenger flights to the United States, Central America, Mexico, Canada and Europe, affecting approximately 8,500 passengers. The airport reopened for flights later that afternoon, hours ahead of schedule, according to officials. The crashed plane was operated by the Panamanian subsidiary DHL Aero Expreso. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident, according to DHL.
