Leya Russell, a Canadian national, has suffered two broken vertebrae after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight crashed upon landing at Myanmar’s Yangon Airport last week, reports the Canadian Broadcasting Network (CBC). Her passport was taken from her following the accident and it took hours before she was given proper medical attention, she told CBC News.
On May 8, a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft of the flag carrier from Dhaka skidded off the runway
after attempting to land amid bad weather in Yangon.
Russel was one of 35 people on board the Biman flight 060, including 29 passengers, four cabin crew, two ground engineers, and the pilot. At least 18 passengers were injured and subsequently admitted to two hospitals in Yangon for treatment.
Russell had just finished a three-week assignment with Photographers Without Borders, photographing therapists working with people with disabilities through a non-profit in rural Bangladesh, according to CBC News.
She had planned to vacation for three days in Myanmar before returning home to Calgary.
The first indications that something might be amiss about the flight were that it had been delayed for hours without an explanation, she said, adding that the plane’s wheels made an odd sound when it eventually took off.
Russell slept through the flight, but woke up in time to film the landing from her seat near the wing.
“They come over the intercom and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to have some turbulence,'” she told CBC News.
