Plane crash in Kingston

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

IT COULD be some time yet before local aviation officials determine what caused a Cessna single-engine aircraft to overshoot the runway at the Norman Manley International Airport and crash on the Port Royal Road yesterday morning.

"The probe will take some time, and anything said now would be mere speculation," an airport official said hours after the crash, which left a trainee pilot and an instructor nursing injuries.

"The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority is conducting the probe, and it will have to examine all the factors," the official added as he pointed out that the aircraft was still leaking fuel almost an hour after the crash.

The Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) reported that at approximately 10:06 yesterday morning, a Cessna overshot the runway and ended on the roadway.

"Our emergency-response unit came immediately after, and the runway was closed for a while," Mark Williams, vice-president of the AAJ, told The Gleaner.

He noted that the Port Royal Road had also been closed, leaving scores of residents of the seaside town and visitors to the community stuck on both sides of the crash.