Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

While government officials are defending the response by emergency teams to Tuesday's crash of an American Airlines (AA) plane near the Norman Manley International Airport, a high-profile passenger has taken issue with the assessment.

Ambassador Derick Heaven told The Sunday Gleaner that the rescue teams did not cover themselves in glory. Heaven, who served as Jamaica's high commissioner to Britain and Ambassador to Japan during the 1990s, was aboard the AA flight which crashed along the Port Royal Road at 10:22 p.m.

"The report that says rescue people were there in the specified time frame is true, but who were these rescue people?" Heaven asked. "The fire engines!"

Heaven said three fire trucks from the airport were on spot when he got off the badly damaged Boeing 737 aircraft, which crashed a mere 15 feet from the sea. He recalls an ambulance arriving on the chaotic scene shortly afterwards.

No one in charge

"What was very lacking was there was no one there to take charge. No one was directing affairs," said Heaven.

His account is different from those given by Transport Minister Mike Henry and Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Darby of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) during a press conference at Jamaica House on Wednesday.

They said the fire trucks and ambulance responded within three minutes, one minute less than required by international standards. Henry pointed out that airport data supported this.

Heaven, however, is not buying it.

"I don't want to get into anything controversial, but they should not pat themselves on the back and pretend that everything went well, because it did not," he said.

Darby is director general at the JCAA, which is heading investigations into the mishap. Teams from the National Transport Safety Board in the United States and American Airlines are also part of the probe into what caused the plane to overshoot the runway.

There were no fatalities, but 92 of the 152 passengers and crew were hospitalised.

At Wednesday's press conference, Derby said three mock drills had been conducted by the JCAA at the Norman Manley International Airport this year.

American Airlines Flight 331 left Washington, DC's, Ronald Reagan National Airport Tuesday evening for Miami en route to Kingston. Heaven, who turned 69 on December 19, was travelling first-class from Chicago via Miami. He said he knew something was wrong even before the plane landed.

"The approach seemed to have been very fast, and second, when he (the pilot) touched down, it was like he dropped out of the sky," he said.

Heaven and many of the passengers were taken to the airport's main area by a passing Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus. He said his injuries were not serious enough for him to be hospitalised.

Heaven suffered minor injuries to his neck, right shoulder and legs.