Plane slides off runway at Midway

CNN
Dec. 09, 2005

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet slid off the runway during a driving snowstorm at Chicago's Midway Airport and slid into at least one vehicle at a nearby intersection on Thursday night, a spokeswoman for Chicago's Department of Aviation said.

Flight 1248, which was arriving from Baltimore, Maryland, slid through a fence separating the runway from the intersection, spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, Abrams said, but Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford told The Associated Press that at least one person was seriously hurt in a vehicle.

The Boeing 737 was carrying 98 people. It left Baltimore-Washington International Airport about 5 p.m. ET and tried to land shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Passengers told WFLD television that the plane made a "hard landing."

It had been snowiing all day in Chicago and visibility was poor at the time of the landing. Midway airport lies in a dense residential and commercial district of the city, west of downtown.

Video from the scene showed at least 10 ambulances at the scene and dozens of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles converging on the intersection.