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A Southwest plane skidded off the runway at Nashville International Airport Tuesday, Dec. 15.(Photo: Carsonoshoney / Twitter)
NASHVILLE — A Southwest plane from Houston rolled off a taxiway into the grass and got stuck in a ditch at the Nashville International Airport on Tuesday, injuring at least eight people, authorities said.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Southwest Flight 31, a Boeing 737, rolled off taxiway T4 near the terminal into the grass and got stuck. Nashville fire department crews were dispatched to the airport at 5:43 p.m. CT.
Southwest officials said the plane that carried 133 passengers and five crew members departed from Houston Hobby Airport at 4 p.m.
Passengers left the aircraft via its stairs and were taken to the terminal in a bus, Bergen said.
Fire spokesman Brian Haas said three ambulances<span style="color: Red;">*</span>transported eight people to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>TriStar Summit Medical Center.
Most of those passengers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suffered minor injuries, mostly bumps and bruises, Haas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said, and one person was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suffering from chest pains.
Reginald Smith Jr., who was on the plane, called the landing frightening.
"We landed, we were coasting and then we were bouncing up and down and the next thing you know ... it felt as if we were about to topple over as we were going into the ditch," said Smith as he stood inside the airport terminal. "You could feel the plane hit and stop. It was terrifying."
Passengers of Southwest Flight 31, that rolled off taxiway into the grass and got stuck about 5:20, wait in line to talk to Southwest personnel about their baggage at the Nashville International Airport Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins/ The Tennessean)
Smith, who said he flew from Houston to sing in the Nashville Symphony, said after the crash that many passengers on the plane quickly helped crew members assist elderly and disabled passengers off the plane.
Another passenger, Andy Borchers, said the plane's emergency lights lit after the plane hit the ditch, crew members opened an emergency door and everyone on board slid down one-by-one.
“There was no urgency, we weren’t moving at a high speed,” Borchers said. “Everyone was in pretty good spirits,” he said. “But the flight attendants were shaken up.”
The incident remains under investigation by the FAA.
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