PLANE LUCKY

Man Almost Killed by Runaway Plane While Taking Selfies

A tourist was taking pictures of himself close to a runway at a Brazil airport when the plane skidded and headed towards him.

A tourist said he was taking selfies when a plane skidded off a runway and almost hit him. Rogério Prado was strolling down a beach last week in Ubatuba, in São Paulo, Brazil, when he clocked the aircraft coming into shot as he worked on his selfie game. The holiday-maker then inadvertently captured the moment the Cessna jet spun off the runway at Gastão Madeira State Airport and careered through a fence, killing the pilot. Four other people, a couple and two children, managed to escape the fireball alive. Rogério told G1 of his lucky escape: “I was taking selfies right in front of the airport runway... [then the plane] was heading in my direction. I could only hear the noise and see it leaving the runway on my phone.” He added that the plane whizzed past just four meters from him. “I didn’t even have time to run, just to turn my back, and he had already crossed the fence, made the first impact, then crossed the track and passed exactly where I was before,” he recalled, adding that he sustained burns to his arm and back. He and other tourists on the beach broke into the plane using rocks, to save the passengers.