New York passengers expressed thanks on Thursday after surviving a plane crash at LaGuardia Airport.
Delta Flight 1086 from Atlanta to New York skidded off the runway and crashed through a fence, coming mere feet from the waters of Flushing Bay.
It was snowing at the time of the accident and there was 3.5 inches on the ground, CBS2 reported. Visibility was a quarter mile, and the cloud ceiling was 1,100 feet.
Despite the less than ideal conditions, two planes had landed safely.
"This particular runway had been plowed shortly before the incident, and pilots on other planes reported good braking action," Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Patrick Foye said in a news conference.
Passengers on the jet said that everything was fine until seconds after the wheels touched the ground.
"The wheels did not grab," first class passenger Jared Faelacci reported. "They didn't take, and immediately, we heard the spinning.
"We felt like we skidded for 20 seconds… I grabbed the seat in front of me, started to pray."
"It felt like a regular landing until it started sliding," passenger Naquithan Taylor confirmed. "I realised that it wasn't going well when we hit a stop, and then I seen water kind of coming up and gasoline running from the wing."
The plane landed precariously close to Flushing Bay, and some of the 131 passengers and crew thought they were in trouble.
"We thought that we were in the water, everybody thought it was in the water and then they opened the back door and all the snow and things fell out and then the firemen came around helping everybody," another passenger reported.
Photos and videos after the crash show passengers crossing the snowy landing strip to safety.
"Thank God! No one hurt, we could of ended up in the water! #survive #thankgod #ice #safelanding," a passenger captioned one video.
At least 24 people suffered minor injuries, and three people were transported to the hospital. The FAA continues to investigate the crash.
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