A Boeing 737 skidded off a runway into a river after crash-landing during a lightning storm in Florida on Friday, with terrified passengers all safely evacuated to shore from the stricken jet’s wings. The plane carrying 143 people including crew from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba slammed into shallow water next to a naval air station in Jacksonville after a hard landing that saw the plane bounce and swerve down the runway, passengers said.

All 143 passengers and crew on a Boeing 737 aircraft have escaped with their lives after the plane skidded off the runway at Jacksonville airport in Florida and landed in a river.

The military-chartered Miami Air International plane was trying to land at Naval Air Station in Jacksonville en route from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba at around 9.40pm local time when it slid off the runway into the St John’s river, a statement from the navy airport said.

Officials said the 136 passengers and seven crew were alive and accounted for. Twenty-one adults were transported to local hospitals for minor injuries but were in good condition.

Local television said a heavy thunderstorm was taking place when the plane was trying to land.

The mayor of Jacksonville said on Twitter that everyone on board the flight was “alive and accounted for” but that crews were working to control jet fuel on the water.

“The plane was not submerged. Every person is alive and accounted for,” the Jacksonville sheriff’s office said on Twitter.

Navy security and emergency response personnel were on the scene and monitoring the situation, the navy statement said.

No details were immediately available about how the plane came to leave the runway.

Miami Air International is a charter airline operating a fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Representatives for the airline could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters on Friday evening.

A Boeing spokesman said that the company was aware of the incident and was gathering information.

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