Columbia plane hit by lightning, crashes into three pieces - 130 people SURVIVE!

Incredible. From Daily Mail:

It's the type of image that usually signals tragedy - the mangled wreckage of a passenger jet full of people, torn into three pieces crumpled on a runway.

But this horrifying picture instead represents a miraculous escape for all but one passenger on board.

The Boeing 737 aeroplane was carrying 131 people when it crashed on landing and broke into three pieces on a Colombian island in the Caribbean early this morning.

But, astonishingly, 130 of those on board survived - many, according to early reports, without even being injured.

Tragically, one passenger was killed in the crash - 65-year-old Amar Fernandez de Barreto.

Authorities said that at least five people had been reported injured.

Everyone else, it appears, survived unscathed.

Colombian Air Force Col. David Barrero said officials were investigating reports the plane had been hit by lightning before crashing at 1:49 am (0649 GMT).

The Aires jet had left the Colombian capital of Bogota at about midnight for San Andres Island, about 120 miles east of the Nicaraguan coast.

'The skill of the pilot kept the plane from colliding with the airport,' said Barrero, commander of the Caribbean Air Group, by telephone from San Andres.

He said 125 passengers and six crew members had been aboard.