Honduras: Plane skids off runway

Update: As of late Friday night the death toll is estimated at five with over sixty people injured. (Source: Xinhua).

A passenger plane skidded off a runway at Tegucigalpa airport in Honduras and onto a residential street. CNN en Español reported this afternoon that three passengers died though that number could rise as several cars are trapped underneath the airplane. The TACA airplane carried 124 passengers and the accident occurred as the plane tried to touch down.

The culprit of the accident may have to do with the wet weather cause by Tropical Storm Alma. The storm weakened to a depression this morning after hitting Honduras this morning though the experts at the National Hurricane Center estimate that 10 to 15 inches of rain will fall over the country.

Alma has caused extensive flooding and damage in several Central American countries; one man died in Nicaragua as power lines were knocked out while several mudslides occurred in Costa Rica.

Sources- BBC News, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, AHN

Image- CNN