Watch: DHL`s Boeing plane crash lands in Costa Rica, splits in two after emergency landing

The DHL Boeing plane skidded off the runway after breaking hard and entered the grass area before splitting into two, aviation authorities said.

A DHL cargo plane crash landed at Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria International Airport, forcing authorities to shut the airport for several hours. DHL, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG was operating a Boeing 757-200 cargo aircraft wearing the traditional yellow livery and can be seen on multiple social media videos skidding on the runway after making an emergency landing.

The plane skidded off the runway after breaking hard and entered the grass area and split into two, aviation authorities said. The pilot and copilot were evacuated, airport operator Aeris said in a statement.

Various videos of the incident are making round of the internet showing a yellow aircraft emblazoned with DHL with its tail detached and a broken wing, being doused with firefighting foam as its lay partly in a grass field and the runway.

As per DHL, the crew were physically unharmed in the incident, adding "one crew member is undergoing medical checks as a precaution." Aeris said Juan Santamaria airport, on the outskirts of capital San Jose, remained closed for several hours, impacting 32 commercial flights to and from the United States, Central America, Mexico, Canada and Europe. 

The aircraft, bound for Guatemala, apparently had a failure in the hydraulic system, prompting the pilot to request an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, Luis Miranda Munoz, Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Costa Rica, told Reuters.

Munoz said the aircraft is still on the ground and aviation authorities are waiting for it to be removed in order to resume operations. DHL said they are coordinating with the airport authorities on moving the aircraft from the runway so that normal airport operations can be resumed as soon as possible.

"DHL's incident response team has been activated and an investigation will be conducted with the relevant authorities to determine what happened," DHL said.

With inputs from Reuters

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