哥伦比亚客机遭雷击坠毁 一人死亡

A Boeing 737 crash-landed Monday on a Colombian resort island during a lightning storm, scattering¹ passengers across the runway as it split in three, but somehow only one passenger died.

本周一，一架波音737客机在哥伦比亚一个旅游海岛降落时遭遇雷击，不幸坠毁，被摔成三截，机上乘客四散在跑道上，但所幸仅有一名乘客身亡。

runaway² at the airport on San Andres island in Colombia, Monday Aug. 16, 2010." width="399" height="241" onclick="window.open('http://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/100822/4_100822032900_1.jpg')" src="http://www.enread.comhttp://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/100822/4_100822032900_1.jpg" />
A plane that crashed lays in pieces along the runaway at the airport on San Andres island in Colombia, Monday Aug. 16, 2010.

A 73-year-old woman suffered a heart attack and died in hospital, but officials said it was a "miracle" there were no more fatalities³（灾祸） among the 130 survivors⁴, most of whom suffered some kind of injury.

The plane was struck by lightning 80 meters (250 feet) above the tarmac（柏油碎石路面） at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla airport on the Caribbean island of San Andres, aviation（航空，飞行术） officials said, but the cause of the crash was still under investigation⁵.

Passengers were "literally⁶ scattered⁷ over the end of the runway," a police statement said. The authorities later put the number of injured at more than 120, five of them seriously.

There were at least 16 foreigners on board the Boeing 737-300, including six French, four Brazilians, four Americans and two Costa Ricans.

"We all felt the plane was arriving very, very quickly on the tarmac," 28-year-old Virginie Giroux, one of the French passengers said.

"We did not feel the contact with the ground. We just saw everything flying, everything bursting in the plane."

Orlando Paez Baron⁸, director of civil security from Colombia's national police, said the pilot had briefly⁹ lost control of the aircraft but showed skill in keeping the plane on the runway.

The plane, belonging to Colombia's Aires airline, left Bogota shortly after midnight and crashed in San Andres in conditions of reduced visibility about two hours later, according to air traffic controllers.

San Andres's governor Pedro Gallardo said it was only good fortune that prevented there being more casualties among the 131 people on board.

"We thank God for the miracle granted to this archipelago（群岛，列岛） ," he told national radio. "The captain, the co-pilot and all the crew are safe."