An American Airlines flight with 160 people onboard skidded off the runway and broke apart in Kingston, Jamaica Tuesday night.
Landing during a fierce thunderstorm , American Airlines Flight 331 bounced and skidded down the runway, running off the end of it and breaking apart.
"It wasn't just a landing it was a departure from the runway. It was over terrain that the aircraft is not supposed to be operating, very bumpy," explained former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker.
154 passengers and the crew of six then battled panic, heavy rain and darkness to get away from the broken aircraft, which had stopped just a few feet short of the Caribbean Sea.
"We just felt a big crash, and we felt a big impact and we realized the plane had crashed. And scrambled out because we didn't know if it was going to explode," said passenger Loana Brown.
"People were screaming, I was screaming, covering my face and hands," added Natalie Morales Hendrix. "Next thing you know we were at a standstill and that's when we could smell smoke. There was smoke and debris everywhere.
More than 90 people were rushed to hospitals, but only two were admitted and nobody suffered life threatening injuries.
The flight originated in Washington, DC with a stop in Miami.
Most of the passengers were Jamaicans headed home for the holidays.
The NTSB has dispatched a team of investigators to assist the government of Jamaica in its investigation of the accident.
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