DENVER—Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien says passengers who escaped the flaming wreck of a Continental Airlines flight that veered off a Denver runway in December benefited from a miracle and the help of some local heroes.
O’Brien visited the Denver International Airport fire station Monday and thanked DIA firefighters and the Red Cross for their response to the disaster.
Flight 1404 was bound for Houston on Dec. 20 when it ran 200 yards off the runway and into a ravine, where it caught fire. Thirty-eight of the 112 people onboard were injured, but no lives were lost.
O’Brien says her office calls it the “miracle on the plains.”
Among those honored Monday were Red Cross CEO Charley Shimanski, DIA Fire Chief Pat Hynes and mental health counselors who accompanied two passengers who flew to Houston the day after the wreck.
———
Information from: The Denver Post,
