PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -A Spirit Airways (NYSE:) flight destined for the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was struck by gunfire on Monday, forcing it to be diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Spirit stated in a press release that the airplane had been broken and brought out of fee upon touchdown within the northern Dominican metropolis of Santiago.
A flight attendant was injured within the incident, Spirit stated. The Miami Herald had reported that the attendant was grazed by a bullet.
No passengers had been injured, Spirit added.
A video circulating on social media, which seems to have been taken by a Spirit worker however which Reuters was unable to instantly confirm, exhibits the place one other bullet had come by close to the again exit door to then strike the overhead bin throughout the aisle.
All flights out and in of the Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport in Port-au-Prince have been halted, in response to the Herald.
Spirit stated that it had suspended flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, in Haiti’s north, “pending further evaluation.”
JetBlue will cancel flights to and from Haiti by Thursday, it stated, and can monitor to find out whether or not extra cancellations could also be wanted.
The passengers aboard the Spirit flight on Monday might be taken again in one other plane to Fort Lauderdale, the place the flight departed from, Spirit stated.
Armed gangs in Haiti’s capital have shot at plane in current weeks because the safety state of affairs deteriorates. Final month, a U.N. helicopter was hit by gunfire over Port-au-Prince.
