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At 9:45, on May 30th 2008, TACA flight 390 operating from El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, suffered an accident upon landing at Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. According to the latest news, “The plane inexplicably circled the city twice and it ran out of runway because it landed more than halfway down” the length of the strip, airport manager Carlos Ramos told the Channel 7 television network. Upon landing it could not stop before the end of the runway and crashed into a ravine, and a road, finally coming to rest broken into three parts while its nose crashed into the roadside embankment.
There are 3 people reported dead by the airline: captain D’Antonio, of Salvadoran nationality, captain of Flight 390 (with an accumulated 11 thousand flight hours and a TACA employee since 1993); and Mrs. Jeanne Chantal Neele, and Mr. Harry Brautigam, passengers. There were 124 passengers on board, 5 crew and 5 more TACA crew flying for repositioning purposes. On Saturday, 45 of these people remained hospitalized, the rest could be released immediately after the incident (or have simply walked away).
NATIONALITY - NUMBER OF PAX
Argentina - 9
Brazil - 2
Canada - 2
Colombia - 2
Costa Rica - 17
El Salvador - 3
Georgia - 1
Germany - 1
Guatemala - 8
Honduras - 60
Italy - 1
México - 3
Nicaragua - 5
Spain - 2
United States - 7
Uruguay - 1
You can access the full passenger list here: taca-flight-390-passenger-list as provided by TACA on their website.
But as the aircraft hit a road, there were two more lethal tragedies on the ground, as the plane crumbled upon cars that got trapped under the wings. One of them reported to be a motorbike rider.
Here is the BBC link showing how the passengers were escaping, and how the cars got trapped under the wing.
According to the TACA website, the aircraft is an A320-233 Airbus, Irish plate EI- TAF, series number 1374 built on January 4th 2001. Until May 29th it had accumulated 21,957 flight hours and 9,992 landings. (Picture of the plane on airliners.net: http://www.airliners.net/photo/TACA/Airbus-A320-233/1232265/L/)
Location of the crash (link posted on flightlevel350.com)
Following the crash, officials acknowledged that the runways of Tegucigalpa’s aging Toncontin International Airport are short and its approach paths are dangerous. The airport is ringed by hills, posing a special challenge for pilots.
There was no official cause given for the crash yet, but weather may have also been a factor. The runway was wet with rain from Tropical Storm Alma.