I was almost hit by a falling plane last night

I thought I'd share this as it was such a shocking and improbable situation. Here's what happaned:

- Left the office (Montes Urales, Lomas in Mexico City) yesterday at around 6.30pm and walked to an ATM a coulple of blocks away.
- I was inside the ATM when a I heard a mind numbing impact followed by a ball of fire while debris was falling on the street.
- I quickly closed the ATM glass door and dodged for cover in fear of a subsequent explosion.
- A huge fire started about 50yds from where I was, cars were burning. A man was running/screaming burning from the waist up. The picture was unreal.
- Made it out of the ATM and ran opposite to the fire towards the corner street.
- A small jet plane crashed, exactly where I had walked by 1-2 min before.

This ocurred during bumper to bumper rush hour traffic in downtown Mexico City, more than 50 cars burned to the ground. Reports are of ~10 people dead but from what I saw the number has to be higher. Some of the building guards, drivers, and people on the street when I went by during my short walk to the ATM are either dead or badly burned.

After getting safe my first thoughts were of my wife, daughter and son, and how fragile life is. I couldn't beleive I made it out without a scratch. Things like this put life into perspective and what is really important.

The plane was a Lear jet 45 owned by the Mexican government. Unfortunately, it is confirmed that Mexico's minister of the interior was on the plane and died along with other public officials.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-K-hAlJ07sX3xQ5xH6QZccbTMegD948H8NG0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7709877.stm

I kissed and huged my family a couple of hrs later when I finally made it home. Live life to its fullest, you never know when it will hit you... literally.

 

Thanks guys. I'm indeed very lucky and just happy to be alive. You're right these memories will last forever.

I went back earlier today, my office is near by and the plane hit probably even closer.

 

Both the minster of interior and the head of national security who were on the plane have been at the forefront of the war against drug lords. There's is speculation about sabotage but who knows. The impact came before the fire so the plane was apparently not in flames when it came down. Other witnesses confirmed this as well.

 

That's what my wife also said. So far I'm doing good. I needed to check out the area of the accident again today to make sure things were as I remembered. They were and I actually bumped into a bank employee that was there too, we exchenged notes.

 

Some pics from the intenet. This is what I saw too
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Thanks again for the kind remarks. In this area there are banks, law firms, PE firms, etc. I just spoke to a colleague that had direct view from his his office and aparently the plane hit at a very steep angle +75 degrees), it apparently fell like a rock. It makes sense as the debris is scattered in a fairly small area for such an accident.

I really feel for people that didn't make it and their families.

 

is that the TWA ?