'This Is Actually a Day of Celebration for a Lot of People'

21 survive plane that crashed, burned in Texas
By Liz MacGahan,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2021 4:58 PM CDT

It could have been significantly worse. A plane with 21 people aboard crashed at the end of the runway at Houston Executive Airport and caught fire Tuesday, but everyone on board made it off the plane safely, and largely unharmed. "This is a good day. This is actually a day of celebration for a lot of people," Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Stephen Woodard said, per CNN. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-87, failed to gain altitude during take off and instead rolled through a fence at the end of the runway and caught fire about 10am local time. The passengers "self-extricated" from the plane, Tim Gibson, director of local emergency services said.

There were 18 passengers, two pilots, and a flight attendant on board; the youngest passenger was 10. One person had back pain and another person had respiratory problems; both were treated at a nearby hospital and then returned to the airport. The passengers were baseball fans trying to fly to Boston to watch the Houston Astros play the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, FOX26 reports. The fire on the plane took some time to put out; when firefighters were done, the fuselage was just a pile of ashes with only the tail section recognizable, News18 reports. (More plane crash stories.)

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