Boeing passengers stayed calm

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

IN a shallow, snow-covered ravine between runways, Assistant Fire Chief Bill Davis saw the hulking Boeing 737 jetliner, resting on its belly and preparing to burn up.

And its 115 passengers and crew members, calmly walking toward the lights of an airport fire station.

"It wasn't mass chaos," said Davis, among the first rescuers to reach the wreckage of the jet late on Saturday night at Denver International Airport, where it mysteriously veered off the runway during takeoff.

The emergency slides on Continental Airlines Flight 1404 had deployed. But with the landing gear sheared off, passengers simply stepped out the doors on the left side ?? the right side was on fire ?? and to the ground.

The Denver accident also bore similarities to an accident in Toronto in August 2005, when 309 people slid down escape chutes after an Air France Airbus A340 skidded off the runway and burst into flames.

Davis called it a miracle that no one died in Denver.

"It was just amazing," he said.

Thirty-eight people suffered broken bones, bruises and other injuries said Robert Sumwalt, a National Transportation Safety Board member.

The damaged plane will remain for several days in the 12-meter deep ravine, Sumwalt said. The plane carried 110 passengers and five crew and was headed for Houston. It veered off course about 600 meters from the end of the runway and came to rest about 200 meters from one of the airport's four fire stations.

Passengers walked out of the ravine in clear, minus 5 degrees Celsius weather and toward the lights of the fire station nearby, Davis said. Inside, firefighters began treating the injured while other passengers held small children or stared into the distance.

Passenger Emily Pellegrini told The Denver Post that as the plane headed down the runway, "It was bumpy, then it was bumpier, then it wasn't bumpy."

The plane veered off course near the end of the runway and did not appear to have gotten airborne, city aviation manager Kim Day said.

Firefighters said they doused the blaze quickly and then searched the cabin to make sure no one was trapped.