Mike Pence, the Republican vice-presidential nominee for the US election, has emerged unscathed after his plane skidded off the runway while landing at LaGuardia airport in New York in heavy rain.
The plane carrying Donald Trump’s running mate ended up on the grass next to the runway, witnesses said after the incident shortly before 8pm on Thursday night.
Live television footage showed Pence standing in the rain near the plane among emergency vehicles, talking to police and other officials. No one was hurt.
The aircraft, which had around 30 people on board, had been delayed taking off from Fort Dodge, Iowa because bad weather was expected en route. Pence, the governor of Indiana, had been at a campaign event in the state.
Elizabeth Landers, a CNN producer, was on the plane and described the landing.
“When we landed here we had pretty hard landing and then we felt the back of the plane start to fishtail and you could just feel the plane moving in a way that was not straight on the runway like a normal landing would go.
“The plane continued to proceed down . . . then we came to a very, very sort of quick and harsh halt on the runway.
“Governor Pence and his staff are fine and there are a lot of rescue crews. Governor Pence came to the back of the plane to make sure everyone was all right.
“There is significant damage to the runway. You can see divots where the wheels of the plane had been. Everyone is fine but definitely a little rattled.”
“Judging by what I am seeing it looks like cement has been torn up by the wheels of the plane. The plane is off the runway. The plane is in the grass. One of the wheels is completely in the grass. In fact the entire plane is in the grass.”
Trump called Pence to check on him after the incident, the campaign said.
"Mr Trump did reach out to Gov Pence. He's glad that everyone on board is safe," Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in an emailed statement.
Trump called him from his motorcade while en route to a rally in Geneva, Ohio.
Earlier in the day by photographs published by Reuters showed Trump’s plane taxiing on the runway at LaGuardia during heavy rain.
(Guardian service)