From the APA commercial turboprop plane crash landed on its belly at Trinidad’s main airport Monday when the plane’s landing gear failed, injuring several people, officials said.

The Tobago Express flight was carrying 46 passengers and three crew members, said George Bell, the airline’s general manager.

The Dash 8 turboprop left Piarco International Airport, located outside the twin-island Caribbean country’s capital, for a 15-minute flight to the smaller island of Tobago, Bell said. On approach to Crown Point Airport in Tobago, the pilots noticed that the landing gear had failed to come down, he said.

They tried unsuccessfully to release the landing gear manually as they returned to Piarco, Bell said.

Before the pilots brought the plane down, the airport was evacuated. Bell said several people were injured, including two who required emergency treatment, but he did not provide details.

The plane’s manufacturer was sending a team of investigators to the Caribbean island, Bell said.

Trinidad and Tobago is a former British colony of 1.3 million people.
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