Probe begins after Boeing 737 slides off runway into Florida river

SUMMARY

Federal investigators on Saturday began searching for what caused a Boeing jetliner with 143 people on board to slide off a runway into a shallow river while landing at a Jacksonville, Florida, military base during a thunderstorm, injuring 22 people.

By ReutersMay 5, 2019 2:07:45 PM IST (Published)

Aerial view of the Miami Air International Boeing 737-800 that overran the runway at NAS Jacksonville and came to rest in the St Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. (NTSB/Handout via REUTERS)

The Boeing 737-800 chartered by the US military was arriving from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with 136 passengers and seven crew members when it slid into the St. Johns River. (NTSB/Handout via REUTERS)

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator Dan Boggs holds the flight data recorder recovered from the Miami Air International Boeing 737-800. (NTSB/Handout via REUTERS)

Officials raised the count of people injured to 22, from 21, after a three-month-old child was admitted to a local hospital for observation. (US Navy/Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Monica R. Hopper/Handout via REUTERS)

The cockpit voice recorder is in the tail of the plane and submerged underwater. Investigators will not be able to recover it until the aircraft is lifted out of the water. (US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Thomas A. Higgins/Handout via REUTERS)