Boeing plane from Guantanamo Bay crashes into Florida river with 136 people on board

Several people hurt in incident after plane landed in thunderstorm

A large Boeing jet – flying from Guantanamo Bay and operated by the US government – has come down in a Florida river, triggering a widespread emergency response, but with all 136 people on board said to be alive and accounted for.

Reports said the plane, operated by Miami Air International, a charter firm, had just landed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, after flying from Guantanamo Bay. Images showed the jet – an older Boeing 737 rather than Max model that has been involved in several fatal accidents – having skidded from the runway and ending up in the St Johns River.

“We have a commercial plane down on the river. I’ve been briefed by our fire and rescue. They are on the scene. While they work please pray,” tweeted Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry.

“This is a developing situation. I’ve been briefed that all lives have been accounted for.”

Reports said that while there were no fatalities, a number of people suffered injuries and were transferred to local hospitals

Cheryl Borman, a defence lawyer from Chicago who has previously represented Walid bin Attash, a Yemeni terror suspect who has been held at the prison camp since 2004, told CNN the plane had been delayed four hours in departing from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. When it landed, it did so amid lightening and thunder.

“We went down with a bump, then it bounced, and swerved,” she said. “Then it came to a complete stop.”

The naval air station is located about eight miles south of Jacksonville, and is said to be regularly used for flights servicing the US’s military prison camp for terror suspects in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay.

Images showed the jet sitting in the water, lit up with powerful lights.

The St Johns River is the longest in Florida, and is very wide at the point it passes the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville.

“[Our] marine unit was called to assist in reference to a commercial air plane in shallow water,” the Jacksonville sheriff’s office tweeted.

“The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for.”

Boeing said it was aware of the incident and was seeking to gather additional information.

WOKV-TV said that at least two people suffered minor injuries and that the plane was attempting to land during a heavy thunderstorm.

A spokesman from the Naval Air Station Jacksonville said the plane had skidded off the runway at around 9pm EST.

“Navy security and emergency response personnel are on the scene and monitoring the situation,” the spokesperson said.

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 operated for the US Department of Defence by Miami Air International, a long-established charter firm.

The 18-year-old plane had at one stage been flown by the UK airline XL Airways, until that company went bust in 2008.

Earlier in the day, the aircraft had flown from Norfolk, Virginia, to Jacksonville, and made the outbound flight to Guantanamo Bay. Departure was delayed by bad weather.

While Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on tourism to Cuba, flights between the US and the American military base on the island continue. Tickets on flights between Florida and Guantanamo Bay are straightforward to book.

The American military base in Cuba occupies the two promontories at the mouth of Guantanamo Bay, along with the sea and the islets between them, covering a total area of 45 square miles.

The US has use of the base until 2033 under the terms of a lease signed in 1934.

The complex includes two airstrips, docking for 40 ships and most of the amenities found in a small American town: a golf course and other sports facilities, cinemas, churches and the only McDonalds in Cuba.
Additional reporting by agencies