A century ago if you were to survive a disaster, you would probably go to any religious place and offer your prayers and gratitude for your survival. But in today’s world, a selfie is what matters. A couple traveling from Lima, Peru, faced one of their worst nightmares when a firetruck driving through Jorge Chavez International airport crashed into their airplane on November 18th.
At around 3:30 pm, the fire truck rammed into the plane as it was just taking off. The incident has sown the seeds for further investigation. This collision, unfortunately, resulted in the deaths of two firefighters- Nicolas Santa Gadea, and Angel Torres. Their firetruck had rammed into the LA2213 flight. Although no crew members or passengers suffered injuries in this collision- it certainly was a frightening moment in their lives.
This resulted in a couple taking a selfie to showcase that they were safe- and had gone through a pretty turbulent situation. Enrique Varsi-Rospigliosi, the man taking the photo, later tweeted this picture with the caption, “When life gives you a second chance #latam.” Interestingly, the Facebook page A320 Systems quickly shared the photo, where several people offered their condolences to the deceased.
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Selfie Taken by Couple After Escaping Unscathed From an Airplane Disaster
One individual went on to write, “It’s very sad for the relatives of the firetruck. Perhaps the people in the picture weren’t aware of the fatalities or perhaps were just so relieved to have survived themselves. At the moment, they maybe didn’t think it through and were saying to their own family they were ok. We who comment weren’t in the accident so can’t know their thinking.”
Another individual commenting on the selfie stated, “This could have been a major disaster. Everyone on the plane is extremely fortunate. Sorry about the firefighters who perished in this accident. They put their lives at risk every single day to save others.” The President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, also tweeted his condolences, “I express my heartfelt condolences to the relatives of Angel Torres and Nicolas Santa Gadea, brave firefighters who died in the accident. My thoughts and my prayers are with them. I pray for the recovery of the wounded.”
After the crash, the operators of this airport, Lima Airport Partners, went on to issue an update on this incident. The company stated, “On the 18th of November, during the morning and until the beginning of the exercise, the firefighting team made all the necessary arrangements to execute the maneuver. Control Tower confirmed the start time of 15:10, it being the time fixed for the beginning of the maneuver, and the impact with the LATAM aircraft occurred at 15:11.”
However, the disaster that led to the selfie didn’t talk about how the drill had not been included in the runaway. Jorge Salinas, one of the directors of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation, stated, “There is no authorization for the entry of any vehicle to the runway. There is authorization to carry out an exercise, but it is outside the areas that currently have transit operations.”
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