Florida: Boeing with 136 passengers skids on runway, falls into river

A chartered Boeing 737 jetliner, which had 143 people onboard, skidded off the runway and fell into the St Johns River in Florida's Jacksonvilleinjuring 21 people on Friday. The incident occurred in an attempt to land at a militarybase during a thunderstorm.

However, there were no reports of fatalities or criticalinjuries in the incident.

According to a Florida air base  spokesperson, The plane, arrived from NavalStation Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with 136 passengers and seven crew members onboard which crashed into the river at the end of the runway at Naval AirStation Jacksonville about 9:40 p.m. local time.

Reportedly, the plane had not submerged causing no harm toany person's life.

A passenger on board the plane, attorney Cheryl Bormann, speakingto the CNN in an interview, terming the experience as "terrifying" said thatthe flight made a "really hard landing" in Jacksonville amid thunderand lightning, which had already been four hours late in departing.

It may be noted that the Miami Air International is acharter airline which operates a fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft.