WATCH: DHL Plane Splits In Two During Emergency Landing, 8500 Passengers Affected By Airport Closure

By Quinny Tan  •  in News
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Aerial View of DHL Crash : r/aviation

Hold off on your next online purchase, folks. Looks like some packages went for a wild ride.

A DHL cargo plane carrying mail and packages skidded off the runway and broke in two during an emergency landing in Costa Rica on Thursday (Apr 8), causing the temporary closure of the international airport in San Jose.

Smoke was billowing from the bright yellow plane of German logistics giant DHL as it ground to a halt, having slid off the runway when it spun and broke up around the rear wheels.

Boeing-757 DHL Cargo Plane Crashes At San Jose Airport - San Jose Airport o Plane Crash - YouTube

Images showed the plane being doused with fire extinguishers on a grassy field next to a runway. The tail had detached and a wing had broken off.

The crew reported hydraulic problems with the 22-year-old aircraft after takeoff and made an emergency landing, according to a statement from DHL.

The two pilots escaped without serious injury and the company has launched an investigation.

Check out the video here:

The aircraft was bound for Guatemala when it apparently had a failure in the hydraulic system, said Luis Miranda Munoz, deputy director of Costa Rica’s civil aviation authority. The issue prompted the pilot to request an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, he said.

DHL Boeing 757 Cargo Jet Breaks in Two After Emergency Landing in Costa Rica - Bloomberg

A Boeing Co spokesperson said it would defer questions to investigating authorities. DHL and airport authorities said they were working together to move the aircraft, although they said it was not affecting operations.

“DHL’s incident response team has been activated and an investigation will be conducted with the relevant authorities to determine what happened,” DHL said.

Footage on social media purported to be of the landing showed an aircraft in DHL’s yellow livery spinning down the runway. It then careered off the tarmac in a cloud of dust and snapped at its tail.

“We are pleased to report that the crew were physically unharmed in the incident,” DHL, owned by Deutsche Post AG, said in a statement.

Airport operator Aeris said the airport, on the outskirts of capital San Jose, reopened at 3.30pm local time, about five hours after the crash and several hours earlier than expected.

Some 8,500 passengers and 57 commercial and cargo flights were affected by the closure, Aeris said.

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