Mexico plane crash: Aeromexico flight crashes in Durango during storm but all 103 on board survive

All passengers and crew were able to escape the aircraft before it went up in flames

An Aeromexico plane has crashed in the northern Mexican state of Durango after taking off in stormy weather, with all 103 people on board able to escape before the aircraft was engulfed in flames.

The airline said flight number 2431 was an Embraer 190 with a capacity for 100 passengers and was bound for Mexico City when it crashed.

Authorities said 85 people were injured - some seriously - in the accident, but nobody died.

Many of the 49 passengers taken to hospital after the crash received treatment for minor injuries and all are expected to live, according to the Durango state governor.

Passengers expressed gratitude to be alive, but many were extremely shaken after the crash on Tuesday afternoon.

"It was really, really ugly," said Lorenzo Nunez, a passenger from Chicago who fled the plane with his two sons and wife.

"It burned in a question of seconds," he told reporters.

The head of Mexico’s Transport Department said “the plane fell upon takeoff”.

Gerardo Ruiz Eparza said there were 97 adults, two children and four crew members aboard the plane.

Emergency personnel at the scene of the crash (EPA/Civil Protection State Coordination)

TV images showed the tail of a plane bearing an Aeromexico logo emerging from scrubland and a column of smoke rising into the sky.

A reporter for network Milenio said some passengers had survived and walked to a highway to seek help.

Shortly after taking off, the plane made an emergency landing about six miles (10km) from the airport, Alejandro Cardoza, a spokesman for the state’s civil protection agency, said on local television.

The civil defence office of Durango state said the accident occurred in a field near the airport for the state capital, also named Durango.

The operator of the airport, Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, attributed the crash to bad weather conditions, citing preliminary reports.

The state’s governor, Jose Rosas Aispuro, said on local television that the plane was bound for Mexico City.

“The plane was taking off,” said Mr Rosas Aispuro, going on to say witnesses told him there was “a bang” and then without warning the plane was on the ground.

Additional reporting by agencies