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Officials in Colombia called it a “miracle” that the plane crash on a Colombian island early Monday morning resulted in just one death.

Even as authorities work to determine what caused the Boeing 737 to go down, deft piloting is being pointed to as a key factor in saving the lives of the 130 other people aboard, including at least five American citizens.

“The pilot’s professionalism prevented the plane from going off the runway,” Gen. Orlando Paez of Colombia’s national police told Caracol Radio.

Officials are investigating whether the plane, which belonged to Colombian carrier Aires and was on its way from the capital, Bogotá, had been hit by lightning as it neared San Andres, a Caribbean resort island off the east coast of Nicaragua. A downdraft could have also caused the crash, officials speculated.

Colombian national police, in a statement, said the plane broke into three parts as it landed. There were at least 121 passengers aboard, including four children, plus six crew members.

The state government sent an e-mail to the Associated Press that said passengers included eight US citizens and four Brazilians. An airline representative later told the Associated Press that only five US citizens were aboard.

The sole death could have been caused by a heart attack, a doctor treating the patients has said.

The damage could have been far worse, according to Robert Sanchez, director of the hospital Amor de Patria, which was treating many of the injured. “It’s incredible. For the dimension [of the accident], there should be more,” he told the Associated Press.

Colombian Air Force Col. David Barrero told the wire service by telephone that “the skill of the pilot kept the plane from colliding with the airport.”

The incident called to mind the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River in 2009, dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.” Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger was credited then with saving the lives of all 150 passengers when the plane made an emergency landing on the river.

There are many more examples, says Robert Mann, president of R.W. Mann & Company, an aviation consultancy in Port Washington, N.Y. He says skilled pilots have managed to safely land despite structural failures on takeoff, malfunctioning controls, and cargo door failure. (Another example he cites is the 1989 crash in Honolulu that killed nine people, of 355 aboard.)

“Obviously skill goes into it, experience goes into it,” he says.

The experience of past crashes teaches pilots and the industry overall ways to deal with problems in the future. PBS has looked back at the lessons learned from some of the worst air accidents in history.

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Continue reading »]]> Mexico — Twenty-nine children were killed and more than 100 others were injured Friday when their day care center caught fire in the northwestern state of Sonora, a spokesman for the state’s governor said.

The victims were from 1 to 5 years old, said Jose Larrinaga, the spokesman.

The fire appeared to have started at 3 p.m. in a warehouse next door to the one-story concrete building that housed the state-run ABC Daycare and spread to the state-run institution, news reports said.

By then, many children had already been picked up by their parents from the one-story building. But others came after the blaze had been put out, with parents screaming their children’s names as others fainted.

In a message of condolence, President Felipe Calderon wished a quick recovery for the injured, who were taken to several area hospitals. He also called on the nation’s attorney general to investigate the fire.

Authorities dispatched 15 specialists in reconstruction and three air ambulances to the area along with respirators and specialized medicines, and a U.S. hospital will help treat some of the victims. Video Watch chaos in aftermath of tragedy »

Admissions will begin Saturday, said Catherine Curran, a spokeswoman for Shriners Hospitals for Children in Sacramento, California.

Shriners Hospitals is a health care system that gives children free treatment for burns, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic conditions, and cleft lip and palate, according to its Web site. It admits children under 18.

The first hospital opened in 1922. The system has burn units in Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati Ohio; and Sacramento, California.

29 children die in Mexico day care center fire

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