General
Spirit Airlines Plane Hit by Gunfire in Haiti and Forced to Divert
A day after the prime minister of Haiti was fired, the airport in Port-au-Prince was closed after the plane was shot at. The country has been under siege from gangs.
A Spirit Airlines flight attempting to land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was shot at on Monday and forced to divert, marking a sharp escalation in the violence that has gripped the nation.
Flight 951, which took off from Fort Lauderdale for Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, was struck several times and landed in Santiago, in the Dominican Republic, according to Tommy Fletcher, a spokesman for the airline.
“An inspection revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with gunfire,” Mr. Fletcher said in a statement. “One flight attendant on board reported minor injuries and is being evaluated by medical personnel.”
No passengers were hurt, the airline said. Spirit suspended flights to Port-au-Prince and to the northern Haitian city Cap-Haïtien. The plane was taken out of service.
The gunfire appeared to come from the ground, though it was unclear who fired the shots. Gangs that have inflicted a campaign of violence in Haiti are also known to be active in the area around the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
Flight monitoring websites showed a JetBlue plane turning around and heading away from Haiti, as the Port-au-Prince airport was quickly shut down. JetBlue and American Airlines canceled flights to and from Haiti until Thursday afternoon. A JetBlue spokesman said the airline would monitor the situation to determine whether any more flights needed to be called off.
