Aeromexico officials said no one was hurt on the flight.
Mexico City:
“It’s an attack plane,” said one of the young children of David Tellez, who watched a Mexican military plane touch down with his Aeromexico passenger plane early Thursday.
Then the bullets started firing.
“As we were accelerating to take off, we heard gunshots very close to the plane and then we all fell to the ground,” Tellez said after the incident in the northern city of Culiacan.
This is quite unbelievable. An Aeromexico plane on the tarmac in Culiacan was hit by a bullet fired by a cartel member.
Passengers lying on the floor.
pic.twitter.com/ayuQ4R0Eus— Jamie Johnson (@JamieoJohnson) January 5, 2023
Violence erupted in Culiacan on Thursday following the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, the son of the infamous drug lord known as El Chapo and a senior member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Aeromexico said no one was hurt on the Téllez flight. The Culiacan airport was closed shortly afterwards, as security forces patrolled the city, which was filled with burnt-out vehicles, attempting to prevent a violent reaction.
Tellez, 42, was traveling with his wife and children, ages 7, 4 and 1, after spending Christmas with family.
He told Reuters that he had made it to the airport for his 8:24 a.m. flight without incident, despite encountering road blockades after an overnight shootout. Although Guzmán’s arrest was not yet confirmed, nervous security guards urged passengers to enter quickly.
“The officers weren’t saying anything,” he said by phone.
Upon hearing that gang members were at the airport, Tellez hid with his family in an airport bathroom. The rumor turned out to be false and the Aeromexico passengers quickly boarded.
Footage shows Aeromexico plane taxiing with gunshots pic.twitter.com/jVI42jFjYS
— Menno Swart (@mennosvart) January 6, 2023
Nevertheless, just as flight AM165 was about to take off for Mexico City, a succession of military aircraft descended on the airstrip.
Tellez took out his cellphone, recording several videos that showed two large Air Force transport aircraft, smaller, fighter-like attack aircraft and military trucks on the tarmac. Then the sound of gunfire started echoing in the distance.
A video circulating on social media, appearing to capture the same incident, showed passengers cowering under their seats as a baby cried.
A flight attendant said that there had been a collision in the engine, which had triggered the leak. The crew instructed the passengers to disembark, taking them to a windowless waiting room in the airport.
It is not clear who was firing at whom.
Tellez’s family plans to take another flight on Friday, but is on hold until then.
“We prefer to stay at the airport until it is safe to leave,” he said. “The city is even worse. There’s a lot of shooting and confusion.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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