New York flight crashes in Guyana

A Caribbean Airlines plane that originated at JFK Airport in New York crashed at the airport in Georgetown, Guyana, early Saturday morning. All 157 passengers and six crew members survived, although about 100 people received medical attention at the airport and several were transported to the hospital for treatment of serious injuries, according to CNN.

Flight BW 523, a Boeing 737, had made a stop in Port of Spain, Trinidad, before continuing to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana. Arriving in rainy weather, the plane ran off the 7,400-foot runway and skidded to a stop on a grassy patch, barely missing a 200-foot ravine that could have resulted in dozens of deaths, NY 1 reports.

Guyana’s president Bharrat Jagdeo and several Cabinet ministers visited the crash site on Saturday and talked to passengers, the Associated Press reports. "We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured," Jagdeo said. Jagdeo said he has asked the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to help investigate the accident.

The crash is the worst in Guyana’s recent history. It is also one of the few serious accidents involving Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines, the single largest carrier in the region.