One dead, 120 injured in Colombia plane crash

MEXICO CITY - An airliner belonging to Colombian carrier Aires crash-landed on the island of San Andres Monday, killing one passenger and injuring 120 others, officials said.

The Boeing 737-700 aircraft reportedly broke into two pieces on the runway after the forced landing.

The cause of the crash had not yet been officially determined, with some local media reporting that the plane had been struck by lightning and others saying it had been hit by a wind gust.

Colombian Transport Minister German Cardona blamed the crash on bad weather and not technical failure. He said it was a relatively new plane, which underwent all the standard maintenance checks only a week back.

Boeing said in a statement that it would send a team to provide technical support to the Colombian authorities investigating the accident.

The aircraft took off from Bogota Monday morning carrying 127 people. One woman died and a child was seriously injured. Six people escaped injury.

San Andres is a Caribbean island near the coast of Costa Rica.