DHL plane crashes, skids off runway in Costa Rica

A DHL cargo plane skidded on the runway of Costa Rica's main international airport and broke in two, prompting the complete shutdown of the air terminal Thursday. According to the Costa Rican Fire Department, an alert was received from a cargo plane that had taken off from the Juan Santamaría International Airport but turned back after detecting a failure in its hydraulic system.

The plane, which was traveling to Guatemala with a crew of two, had only traveled 35 miles from the Costa Rican airport when it requested permission to return. Both the pilot and co-pilot are reported to be in good health. Airport officials said the accident forced the shutdown of flight operations until the runway is cleared resulting on at least 32 flights from North, Central and South America to be diverted to alternate airports.