All Passengers Miraculously Survive After Private Plane Snaps In Half

A private plane snapped in half while attempting to land in Honduras’s capital city on Tuesday.

The Gulfstream jet traveling from Austin, Texas, slid off the runway and came to a stop near a busy road surrounding Tegucigalpa’s airport. According to ABC News , the impact snapped the plane in half, however all of the crew and passengers survived and only sustained minor injuries.

After the scary descent, locals rushed to the site to help guide the six people on board to safety. In a video posted by Today, it’s said that almost all were pulled out of the aircraft by the time first responders arrived.


Four employees of the Texas company EZCorp, including its president, Joe Rotunda, were among the travelers. Rotunda’s son told Today that he was “absolutely floored” and that “my heart sunk” when he heard the initial report. But after learning his father and his co-workers were safe, he said, “We’re very relieved.”

Private jet from Texas snaps in half after running off the end of a runway in Honduras. Miraculously, everyone survived. pic.twitter.com/q5VcNwVtL9

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 23, 2018

The airport in the Central American country is known for being one of the most dangerous in the world, with at least 10 planes crashing in or around it since 1989.

The Washington Post cites that its airstrip is one of the shortest, coming in at 6,601 feet as opposed to the more common 10,000 feet or longer found at hubs like D.C.’s Dulles International Airport. When landing, the necessary drop in altitude is 1,200 feet per minute — which reportedly exceeds the international aviation guidelines — and the plane’s wheels come in such close contact with their surroundings that they set off safety alarms in the cockpit.

Luckily, those on board today’s plane are currently stable, although about 50,000 people in the surrounding area were said to have lost power due to the crash. Business at the airport resumed about four hours after the incident.