Plane crash wreckage removed from runway in Colombia while president prepares to visit

Colombian plane crash wreckage removed from runway

BOGOTA, Colombia — Authorities on Wednesday reopened the island runway where a jetliner crashed with 131 people aboard, clearing the way for flights after crews worked overnight to removed spilled fuel and fractured pieces of the plane.

The wreckage was moved to a hangar while investigators search for clues to the cause of the crash on San Andres Island, which all but one of the passengers survived — a low death toll that both survivors and authorities called miraculous.

President Juan Manuel Santos was visit the island later Wednesday to thank firefighters, police and others who helped passengers out of the wreckage. The person who died in Monday’s crash apparently suffered a heart attack.

An 11-year-old girl with a brain injury was the most seriously hurt passenger and was in critical condition at a hospital in the capital, Bogota. Doctor Carlos Hernandez said the girl’s brain trauma was very severe.

Of 51 passengers flown from the island to Bogota for treatment, nine have been released, Bogota Health Secretary Hector Zambrano said. He said others with minor injuries were also expected to be released soon.

It may take experts months to figure out what happened in the moments before the Aires airline Boeing 737 hit the ground and broke apart. Authorities say the crash happened so quickly the pilot didn’t report an emergency to the control tower.

Survivors said everything seemed normal as the plane approached the airport in a thunderstorm. Suddenly the jet slammed into the ground short of the runway, the fuselage shattering and sliding onto the tarmac.

Investigators have been interviewing the crew and will examine the flight data and cockpit voice recorders to piece together the jetliner’s final moments — a process expected to take three to four months.

Among various possibilities, authorities are considering whether a violent wind shift in the thunderstorm could have played a role.

Boeing and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will aid the investigation.