All 103 people aboard an Aeromexico flight survived a crash just after turnoff. Several were Mexican-Americans from the Chicago area.<\/b>
\nDURANGO, Mexico \u2014 The Rev. Esequiel Sanchez felt apprehensive even before his flight took off from the city of Durango around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, en route to Mexico City. It began raining as the jetliner taxied down the runway. The downpour got stronger and stronger.
He was surprised that the plane took off. \u201cI had a feeling it would be a bumpy ride,\u201d he recalled.
As the plane began its ascent, Father Sanchez noticed from his window seat, 1D, that the visibility had gone to zero. Then the plane plunged. The passengers screamed.
He was not certain they were going to die, he recalled, but he was \u201cgetting ready for it.\u201d
He silently prayed: \u201cGod, come to our aid. Secondly, forgive us, and everyone on the plane.\u201d
Moments later, the plane hit the ground, nose-first.
But all 103 people on board survived \u2014 four crew members and 99 passengers, including two infants.
Flight 2431, an Embraer ERJ-190AR jet, came to a stop just 300 yards from the runway of the General Guadalupe Victoria International Airport in Durango.
Amid billowing smoke and the acrid smell of jet fuel, crew members pried open the emergency doors. Others fled through a hole near the wing. Father Sanchez, known to his parishioners as Father Zeke, helped a flight attendant escort people off the burning jetliner. Outside, he saw the pilot on the ground \u2014 injured but alive.
\u201cIf the flight was a little bit longer, I don\u2019t think we\u2019d be talking,\u201d the priest said by telephone from a Durango hospital as he was getting ready for surgery to install a titanium plate in his fractured left arm. \u201cIf the plane was running faster, the window for people coming out alive would be much smaller. So yes, I attribute it to an important miracle.\u201d
Another survivor, Rudy D\u00edaz, 36, a Mexican-American truck owner from Chicago who had traveled to Durango for the baptism of the daughter of his friend Chris Korsch, who was also traveling with him, was one of several passengers who were awe-struck to have lived.
\u201cI still can\u2019t believe we all made it out alive,\u201d Mr. D\u00edaz said from a hotel lobby in Durango. \u201cYou never imagine something like this will happen to you and then you will be alive to tell the story. Thank God he gave us a second chance, and wouldn\u2019t let us fly any higher. Otherwise we wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d
Mr. D\u00edaz, who was seated in Row 7, recalled hearing a loud bang that caused the aircraft to rock up and down. His head hit the ceiling of the fuselage. Seeing the fire, he clambered out of the plane.
\u201cIt was horrible, people screaming, little kids crying, old ladies could not walk through the mud, and I was trying to help them get away from the plane, which was already in flames,\u201d Mr. D\u00edaz said. \u201cThe airplane was breaking apart from the get-go when we took off and heard the boom, pieces were falling apart.\u201d
When asked about the survival of all on board being described as a miracle, Mr. D\u00edaz said, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I used to believe in them, but I certainly do now.\u201d
Mr. D\u00edaz\u2019s cousin, Ruby Rodriguez, 37, who also lives in Chicago, said she felt certain she would die. She recalled screaming the names of her three children, declaring her love for them. (They had stayed behind in Chicago.)
But then, she heard the flight attendant yelling, \u201cRun, run, get out of the airplane!\u201d She did.
Ms. Rodriguez, an escrow administrator who had been in Durango for a family gathering, said on Wednesday that she had spent hours crying and navigating a wave of emotions.
\u201cI feel sad that it happened, that people went through the traumatic experience but at the same time I am just happy I am alive,\u201d she said.
\u201cIt makes you think and appreciate life more and think: \u2018I am still here, so what is my purpose?\u2019 It makes you think of what is really important and what is no longer.\u201d
Ms. Rodriguez, like other passengers, described the takeoff as \u201cabnormally shaky.\u201d She was sitting in the back of the aircraft, near the bathroom.
In Durango, a city in north-central Mexico, residents said they were praying for the recovery of the pilot, Carlos Galv\u00e1n Meyran, 38, who suffered severe injuries and underwent surgery for a cervical injury on Tuesday evening.
But the surgery was successful and he is now recovering, though his condition remains serious, local officials said Wednesday.
Comments on social media sites and local news reports praised Mr. Galv\u00e1n\u2019s conduct as \u201cheroic,\u201d contending that his apt maneuvering prevented a tragedy.
Local officials stated that the cause of the crash was a gust of wind that hit the jet, causing its sudden descent and making it hit the ground to the left of the runway.
Father Sanchez said the weather conditions seemed like a microburst \u2014 an intense small-scale downdraft produced by a thunderstorm or rain shower. \u201cWe came down very violently,\u201d he said.
Aviation Safety, a website that keeps track of accidents and incidents, reported that both engines broke away during the ground slide and that the aircraft came to rest just past the paved end of the runway.
Aeromexico said on its Twitter account that as of Wednesday morning, 64 people had been released from the hospital. Fernando R\u00edos, a spokesman for state health department, said that only two remained in serious condition: the pilot and an 8-year-old girl with burns over 25 percent of her body.
The plane\u2019s manufacturer, Embraer, based in Brazil, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had sent a group of technicians to investigate the crash.
Father Sanchez, the middle of seven children born to Mexican immigrant parents in Chicago, was ordained in 1995. He celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday with friends and relatives in La Pur\u00edsima, his family\u2019s hometown near Durango. He had been looking forward to going home to Des Plaines, the Chicago suburb where he serves as rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The shrine is named for a venerated image of the Virgin Mary, and it is one of the world\u2019s most popular pilgrimage destinations.
As he entered surgery, Father Sanchez, who had back pain and several broken bones, was accompanied by a younger brother, Jaime. Asked what he would say in his first homily when he returns home, he said: \u201cI told you so: Pray hard. You never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

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