View source for Day after escape Mexico crash survivors resume travel

DURANGO, Mexico (AP) - Just a day after a harrowing escape from a crashed and burning Aeromexico jetliner, many of its 103 passengers and crew went to work on resuming their travel, with some even boarding new flights from the same airport in western Mexico.<br><br>Those who escaped serious injury scrambled to find clothing Wednesday, having lost their suitcases the previous afternoon when the plane plowed into a field shortly after takeoff during a violent storm. U.S. citizens who lost their passports met with consular officials who came to Durango to assist.<br><br>Some passengers spoke of one survivor who had sworn to never get on another plane and planned to buy a car and drive back to the United States.<br><br>Jose Luis Corral of Portland, Oregon, describes his experience of the crash of Aeromexico flight 2431 during an interview at an office where U.S. citizens who lost their passports in the crash and subsequent fire were receiving help from a consular official, in Durango, capital of Durango state, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Authorities said there were no fatalities among the 97 passengers and four crew members aboard the Embraer 190 jet that crashed Tuesday.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>Jose Luis Corral, a 52-year-old business owner from Portland, Oregon, still wore a neck brace from injuries he suffered in the crash.<br><br>"It's so fast, terrifying to see all the people screaming," recalled Corral, who was one of four people who helped the plane's badly injured pilot escape the blaze.<br><br>The pilot suffered a serious neck injury and was in the hospital. Forty-eight others were also injured, and 22 remained hospitalized Wednesday. Miraculously, no one died.<br><br>Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa said late Wednesday that the pilot couldn't feel his feet when he was removed through a cockpit window, but after surgery had regained feeling throughout his legs.<br><br>Alberto Herrera, a 35-year-old webpage engineer from Chicago, said the violent storm shook the plane as it took off and seemed to come from nowhere.<br><br>"When we were sitting on the plane there was a little drizzle, but nothing to worry about. It was just a little light rain, super light, like barely hitting the windows," Herrera said.<br><br>But another passenger, Ramin Parsa, 32, of Los Angeles, said the weather was ominous even before takeoff.<br><br>"The airplane actually was shaking before we even moved so I knew it was dangerous weather," he said. "I thought that we were going to have a delay until the weather clears up, but the pilot began to move, so I thought that he knows what he is doing."<br><br>"I think it was a mistake by the pilot. He should not have taken off," Parsa said.<br><br>Durango state Gov. Jose Aispuro said it was too soon to speculate on the cause of the crash. Mechanical failure and human error could be factors, but certainly the weather wasn't favorable.<br><br>Herrera said the [http://www.examandinterviewtips.com/search?q=takeoff takeoff] went wrong seemingly in an instant.<br><br>"You start gaining speed and as soon as you start taking off all of the sudden the plane starts struggling and it's getting hit with hail. The higher up we went into the storm, the heavier the hail got and more wind got to us," Herrera said.<br><br>"Then all of a sudden the plane starts rocking and it starts seriously, seriously moving around and then hitting the ground," he said. "We skidded and hit a second time and you saw the flames. ...You're like 'This might be bad.'"<br><br>Herrera had braced for impact and yelled for others to do the same. The woman seated next to him was able to hold onto her toddler, though the little girl suffered some scratches and may have hit her head on a seat.<br><br>Officials said the impact ripped both engines off the Embraer 190 jetliner, and fire immediately broke out in the wings.<br><br>"My window turned red because of the flames," Parsa said.<br><br>He  [https://burmatourist.com/transportation-guide-using-for-myanmar-tours Transportation Guide using for Myanmar Tours] said he tried to kick out a window but couldn't. He searched for an exit and at first couldn't find one because of all the smoke. Then suddenly he felt fresh air on his face. He was in front of the exit.<br><br>"Imagine you put 100 people in a room, in a dark room, pitch dark, filled with smoke and there's a small door, everybody's trying to find it. That's what the situation was," Parsa said.<br><br>At the back exit, Herrera said the emergency slide deployed but the fuselage was at an odd angle, so it was unusable and people had to jump to the ground.<br><br>The passengers  [https://burmatourist.com/transportation-guide-using-for-myanmar-tours burma Transportation] walked back across the muddy field to the end of runway and waited there for emergency vehicles.<br><br>Herrera credits the good outcome to both the pilot and to the fact that the plane had not gained much altitude when the storm broke.<br><br>"The pilot had to execute a maneuver correctly and then we hit the storm at its peak while we were going up, and not while we were up in the air," he said.<br><br>Mexico's Transport Department said the U.S. [http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=National National] [https://burmatourist.com/transportation-guide-using-for-myanmar-tours Transportation Guide using for Myanmar Tours] Safety Board was sending two investigators to assist in the investigation, and the plane's manufacturer would also participate.<br><br>The department did not immediately answer questions about whether the airport was equipped with a Low Level Wind Shear Alert System that can detect weather conditions like severe downdrafts or microbursts.<br><br>Herrera got to the departure gate Wednesday evening just as a delay in his new flight was announced. Asked how he felt, he said: "Pure anxiety."<br><br>He had sought to limit his waiting at the airport by arriving close to departure time. He was flying to Mexico City on a plane that also carried seven other survivors, then catching a red-eye flight home to Chicago.<br><br>"I just want to get it out of the way," he said.<br><br>Yet the normally jovial Herrera also joked about his situation. He noted he had seen one Mexican television station calling the crash "El Milagro de Durango - the Miracle of Durango.<br><br>"That's going to be the hashtag for the rest of my life," he said.<br><br>In this photo released by Red Cross Durango communications office, Red Cross workers and rescue workers carry an injured person on a stretcher, right, as airline workers, left, walk away from the site where an Aeromexico airliner crashed in a field near the airport in Durango, Mexico, Tuesday, July 31, 2018. The jetliner crashed while taking off during a severe storm, smacking down in a field nearly intact then catching fire, and officials said it appeared everyone on board escaped the flames. (Red Cross Durango via AP)<br><br>Ramin Parsa, 32, from Los Angeles, hugs a fellow passenger of the Aeromexico flight 2431, as they meet again at an office where U.S. citizens who lost their passports in the crash were receiving help from a consular official, in Durango, capital of Durango state, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Authorities said there were no fatalities among the 97 passengers and four crew members aboard the Embraer 190 jet that crashed Tuesday.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>Ramin Parsa, 32, from Los Angeles describes his experience of the crash of Aeromexico flight 2431 during an interview at an office where U.S. citizens who lost their passports in the crash and subsequent fire were receiving help from a consular official, in Durango, capital of Durango state, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Authorities said there were no fatalities among the 97 passengers and four crew members aboard the Embraer 190 jet that crashed Tuesday.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>Jose Luis Corral of Portland, Oregon, talks on the phone with a representative from Aeromexico as he gets information on how the airline will help stranded survivors of the crash of flight 2431 in Durango, capital of Durango state, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Authorities said there were no fatalities among the 97 passengers and four crew members aboard the Embraer 190 jet that crashed Tuesday.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>Alberto Herrera shows his boarding pass and water-damaged passport a day after surviving the crash of Aeromexico flight 2431 just after takeoff, in Durango, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Herrera, a 35-year-old webpage engineer from Chicago, described the terrifying moments when the plane briefly became airborne before smacking belly-down onto a field beyond the edge of the runway. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>In this Tuesday, July 31, 2018 photo provided by Alberto Herrera, a survivor stands in a rain shower in a field watching smoke billow from the downed Aeromexico jetliner he was traveling in, near the airport in Durango, Mexico. Authorities in Mexico said there were no fatalities among the 97 passengers and four crew members aboard the Embraer 190 jet that crashed moments after takeoff in Durango, sending plumes of black and gray smoke into the sky. Rescuers took 49 people to hospitals; most of them had minor injuries. (Alberto Herrera via AP)<br><br>Alberto Herrera, 35, of Chicago, describes what it was like to survive the crash of Aeromexico flight 2431 just after takeoff, in Durango, Mexico Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Herrera said that a strong burst of wind and hail hit the jetliner, apparently knocking it back to ground, where there were only moments to evacuate before it burned. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)<br><br>Advertisement