Lands hard, bounces, loses part of landing gear, wings damaged, pax sent to hospitals in San Juan

An American Eagle ATR with some 20 to 25 passengers on board has suffered an accident at San Juan's Luis Munoz Marin International at 3:00 PM after an attempt to land in high winds resulted in a very hard landing. In the subsequent bounce and landing, the aircraft apparently lost part of the landing gear and suffered damage to at least one of its wings.

The aircraft was on a domestic intra-island flight from the city of Mayaguez on the west coast of the island of Puerto Rico, to San Juan.

Reports from sources at the airport state that, thankfully, there were no fatalities as a result of the accident. The local fire rescue crew responded immediately, reaching the aircraft no more than a minute or two after the accident, preventing any possibility of any post-accident fire. Paramedics on site stated that all passengers are stable, and are being triaged and routed to various hospitals by emergency authorities.

FMI: www.aa.com, www.amrcorp.com