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Dozens Hospitalized In 'Surreal' DIA Plane Crash

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Dec 20, 2008 10:57 pm US/Mountain

Dozens Hospitalized In 'Surreal' DIA Plane Crash

DENVER (CBS4) ― Dozens of people were hospitalized after a plane crashed during takeoff and caught fire at Denver International Airport.

Airport officials said Saturday night that 38 passengers on Continental Airlines flight 1404 were taken to several different hospitals in the Denver metro area.

The crash happened at 6:18 p.m. and the airport reported significant flight delays afterwards as some runways were shut down. The Boeing 737 was departing from Denver and heading to Houston. It was carrying 107 passengers and five crew members.

It wasn't immediately known why the plane crashed, but the right side of the plane caught fire after it landed in a ravine between two runways on the west side of the airfield.

Passengers and crew escaped from slides at the emergency exits.

Denver firefighters described a "surreal" scene upon arrival and worked to put out the flames quickly. About 20 ambulances and six fire trucks were on the scene.

"They described a surreal scene when they pulled up (with) heavy fire on the right side of the aircraft, all chutes deployed from both sides of the aircraft, people evacuating and walking up the hillside towards them. They had to drive offroad to get to the aircraft but were able to extinguish the fire rather quickly," said Denver Fire Department Division Chief Patrick Haynes.

"It was described as a heck of a fire fight from the commanding officer on scene but he's very proud of how the crews reacted and the outcome of this incident."

The wheels of the plane were sheared off and there was a significant amount of debris at the crash site.

"The entire right side of the plane was on fire. There was significant extension of the fire into the cabin portion. There's significant fire damage inside the cabin with the luggage compartments described as being melted and dropping down onto the seats," Haynes said.

Passenger Alex Zamora told CBS4 everything seemed normal with the departure until right as the plane started speeding up on the runway.

"We took flight for a few moments, hit the ground, bumped the ground and the engine on the right side of the plane seemed to just blow up," he said. "The plane came to a pretty abrupt halt and people got out pretty quickly. We all piled out through the emergency doors and ran up a nearby hill and we happened to be right next to what was one of the dispatch stations for the emergency vehicles."

Zamora said some of the injured people had gruesome looking head injuries and others were complaining about back and neck injuries.

National Transportation Safety Board officials were on the scene Saturday night and investigating the crash.

The west airfield remained closed late Saturday night and the plane continued to leak fuel. There was a 40 minute delay being reported on most flights Saturday evening, and that was expected to continue into Sunday.

All passengers leaving from DIA on Sunday or people picking up arriving passengers are advised to call the airlines to check ahead for likely delays.

1987 Plane Crash In Denver

This is the first plane crash at Denver International Airport in its 13 year history.

In November 1987 Continental flight 1713 crashed in bad weather at Stapleton Airport, the airport DIA replaced. In that crash there were 73 passengers on board and 28 died.

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