More than 21,000 passengers affected by the emergency landing of the Latam flight in Rionegro

After the José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro (Antioquia) affected its operations on Tuesday, March 29, following the explosion of a tire of a plane belonging to the Airbus 320 family of the Latam company, Aeronáutica Civil reported that, due to the emergency, more than 21,000 passengers at the air terminal were affected.

As reported to RCN Mundo by the director of Aerocivil Aeronautics (Aerocivil), Jair Orlando Fajardo, after the aircraft was declared in emergency and the runway at Rionegro airport had to be closed to deal with the situation, 136 flights had to be canceled.

It should be recalled that, at 2:40pm this Tuesday, the closure of the Rionegro airport was reported due to the fact that the Latam aircraft that covered the Medellin-Cartagena route, declared an emergency due to a failure of one of the tires of the front train after takeoff, so it had to return to the air terminal to carry out an emergency landing.

In context: Video: Latam plane emergency forced closure of José María Córdova Airport in Rionegro

According to the airline, the plane landed at the airport at 3:12 in the afternoon, where aeronautical firefighters, airport health and air authorities met to attend to the emergency and ensure the safety of the 147 passengers and 6 command and cabin crew who were on board.

Images and videos shared through social networks revealed the moments of anguish that passengers and crew members on board had to go through, in the face of the explosion of one of the tires of the aircraft's landing gear.

You can also read: Passengers report that Latam plane had failures since before taking off from Rionegro

Because the aircraft ran out of one of its tires and ended up landing on its train, the José María Córdova airport in Rionegro (Antioquia) remained closed until 4:18 am this Wednesday, March 30, while air authorities towed the Latam aircraft to safety.

“That aircraft weighs more than 100 tons. Therefore, special equipment is needed to be removed and all that took us time to get it up. Now comes the whole part of inquiry, evidence gathering and so on, to be able to establish exactly what happened and to be able to pronounce ourselves as authority,” Fajardo told the Bogotá newspaper.

After the emergency, Latam Airlines also spoke out assuring that they are already working with the authorities to clarify the facts. Likewise, the airline informed all passengers whose flights to and from Medellin on March 29 and 30 were affected, that they will be able to change the date of their trip or request a refund of their money at no additional cost.

Those who wish to make changes or cancellations of their flights can complete the process through the page https://www.latamairlines.com/co/es, in the 'My Trips' section or in the Latam app.

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