Boy killed after plane skids off runway

[Maral]

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet slid off the runway during a heavy snowstorm at Chicago's Midway Airport and crashed into two vehicles in a nearby intersection, killing a young boy, on Thursday night.

Flight 1248, which was arriving from Baltimore, Maryland, slid through a fence separating the runway from the intersection, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for Chicago's Department of Aviation.

The boy, who was about 8, was with his two younger brothers -- including an infant -- and his parents, said Deborah Song, a spokeswoman for Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oaklawn, where the family was transported.

The mother and father were in serious condition, Song said, and the middle son, about 3 years old, was in fair condition. There was no information on the infant.

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[deanws]

What a sad story.

 

[Beyond Belief]

This is so sad. I heard this morning that they were traveling in their new automobile to the grandparents home.

 

[IdahoMom]

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=4225607

SNIP

Stearney says the family had just visited McDonald's and that Joshua was eating his food and singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" just before the accident occurred.

The car was pinned under the plane, which landed during snowy conditions.

The lawyer says the family is suffering from shock and grief.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512100136dec10,1,2384507.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

SNIP

...

As traffic crawled and he listened to the jets, he thought one sounded too loud, and kept getting louder. He looked out a window and straight into the engine of a 737.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 had skidded through the end of its runway and crashed through a steel wall. It crushed the Woodses' car.

Joshua died in the crash, and his parents and two of his brothers were injured. Another brother was not in the car.

Leroy Woods remained hospitalized late Friday.

Battered and distraught, the Indiana family grieved in private Friday.

...After the plane hit the car, Leroy Woods immediately tried to save his boys, said Ronald Stearney Sr.

He was yelling for Joshua, and shouting, "I can't see him," Stearney Sr. said Friday.

Woods then climbed out through the shattered driver's side window. As the jet engine continued to roar overhead, Woods reached through the rear window and grabbed 4-year-old Jake and pulled him free, the lawyer said.

Joshua and Matt, 1, had to be extricated with machinery, Stearney Sr. said.