Only one fatality took place in a San Andres, Columbia crash that took place on Monday. The plane crashed when attempting to land. Lightning striking the aircraft is believed to be the cause of the accident, but it isn't confirmed yet. The plane split into pieces, but didn't hit any buildings, and only one fatality occurred, though not during the crash itself. The pilot has been credited as being central to the relative lack of a loss of life in the incident, and also the minimal damage to anything other than the plane itself. Source of article - Miracle ending in Columbia crash by Personal Money Store.
AIRES Boeing 737 halved on runway
The flight from Bogota took off for San Andres within the middle of the night. The plane approached the airport in bad weather and began to violently shake as AIRES Flight 8250 approached the runway. The pilot started for making an emergency landing just short of the runway when the plane split apart. Authorities initially credited a down draft as the cause, though others including eyewitnesses attribute a lightning strike on the plane as the cause, according to CNN. The pilot also saw a bolt of lightning hit the plane. The plane initially broke into two pieces at Gustavo Rojas Pinillo airport. The wreckage besides the plane was minimal.
Only a single fatality
After the crash, as outlined by Bloomberg, a 65 year old passenger had a heart attack and died. Six individuals came out of the crash entirely unscathed. The rest of passengers and crew had injuries, but nobody is not expected to make a full recovery. There were at least 127 passengers and crew members.
Pilot deserves commendation
Professional pilots are some of the most highly skilled workers in existence. They take a very complex machine and get it from point A to point B in a very exact manner, but also know exactly what to do in case of emergencies. Their knowledge makes them very valuable and they work under tremendous pressure. The air travel trade has a lot of stress and responsibility involved, and numerous have viewed the Steven Slater saga unfold. The pilot of AIRES Flight 8250 is a hero.
Further reading
CNN
cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/16/colombia.plane.fatality/?hpt=T1#fbid=QdDzKvaTDgY and wom=false
Bloomberg
bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-16/colombia-plane-splits-in-three-killing-1-and-injuring-114-el-tiempo-says.html