Eight people aboard a light aircraft escaped unhurt when the plane they were on crashed into the runway during landing at Palmira’s Alfonso Bonilla Aragon airport in the south Colombian Valle del Cauca department.
Colombian civil aviation authorities announced that the airport, which provides services to Valle del Cauca‘s capital city Cali, would be closed for at least three hours while the plane was removed from the runway.
The Cessna light aircraft, owned by Aeroexpreso del Pacifico, had departed from Timbiquia, coastal town in the neighboring Cauca department.
Civil aviation authorities believe the accident was caused by faulting landing equipment but will open an formal investigation into the crash.
The Valle del Cauca follows a crash of an Aires flight on the Colombian Caribbean island of San Andres early Monday morning. One person was killed and 114 injured in the accident. The airport was reopened Wednesday after thousands of passengers remained stranded on the island.
Investigators have been interviewing the crew to piece together the jetliner’s final moments. They will also examine the flight data and cockpit voice recorders — a process expected to take three to four months.
