| West Caribbean Airways Flight 9955 | |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Stalled shortly after take-off due to engine flameout |
| Site: | El Embrujo Airport, Colombia |
| Aircraft Type: | Let L-410 Turbolet |
| Operator: | West Caribbean Airways |
| Iata: | YH9955 |
| Icao: | WCW9955 |
| Callsign: | WEST 9955 |
| Tail Number: | HK-4146 |
| Origin: | El Embrujo Airport |
| Destination: | Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport |
| Occupants: | 14 |
| Passengers: | 12 |
| Crew: | 2 |
| Fatalities: | 9 |
| Injuries: | 5 |
| Survivors: | 5 |
West Caribbean Airways Flight 9955 was a scheduled flight between Isla de Providencia and San Andres Island, Colombia that crashed on 25 March 2005, killing 9 of the 14 passengers and crew on board.
The aircraft, a Let L-410 Turbolet, had just taken off from El Embrujo Airport at 9:50, when the left engine flamed out. The crew continued with the takeoff, but the speed of the aircraft decreased rapidly. The aircraft then banked dangerously too far to the right and stalled. The aircraft crashed into a mangrove forest, located just 113m (371feet) from the airport runway.[1]
Both pilots and 7 of the 12 passengers were killed in the crash. One passenger initially survived the crash, but succumbed to their injuries shortly after being rescued. The survivors were taken to hospitals in San Andrés and Bogotá.[2]
This crash further worsened the already critical situation that had been facing West Caribbean Airways. Only 5 months later, the airline suffered another fatal and even deadlier accident on 16 August 2005, when Flight 708, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed in Venezuela killing all 160 people on board which further worsened the company's image. The airline ceased operations in October of the same year.