Surviving Plane Passengers Take Selfie At Site Of Collision With Fire Truck

By Jason Hall

November 21, 2022

PERU-PLANE-ACCIDENT
Photo: Getty Images

Two surviving passengers of a plane crash went viral after taking a selfie from the site of the collision.

Enrique Varsi-Rospigliosi was among the passengers on the Latam Airlines plane that collided with a firetruck at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru on November 18.

Varsi-Rospigliosi shared a selfie of himself covered in snow alongside a female passenger standing in front of the crashed Latam Airlines plane with a caption that translates to "When life gives you a second chance #latam."

The tweet has received more than 200,000 likes from Twitter users in awe of two people surviving a frightening near-death experience, but was also met criticism as they were -- unknowingly at the time -- standing at the site where two firefighters inside the truck had died.

Video captured from the scene shows LATAM A320 NEO plane collide with a fire truck entering the runway.

Several critics shared their displeasure of the selfie being taken in front of the site of a deadly accident.

One member of a popular Facebook aviation group commented that the photo was "unbelievable," while another said it was a "bad taste selfie," according to News.com.au.

โ€œNothing to be proud of, firefighters died,โ€ added a third commenter.

"Two firefighters die but sure, take a selfie and laugh,โ€ a fourth wrote.

Some commenters in the group defended the two passengers.

โ€œI get it, they are happy because they are alive,โ€ one wrote. โ€œPeople are just taking it the wrong way and getting offended for anything these days.ย 

โ€œThink about it, you realised youโ€™ve just survived an aeroplane crash, then suddenly it catches fire, and on top of it you are able to walk away from it unscratched? Iโ€™d be the happiest and most thankful person alive!โ€

โ€œIn the moment they took the picture, only a few people knew that two firefighters had died. They thought it was a problem with the aeroplane," another added. โ€œMedia took, at least, an hour and a half to report what really happened. Even firefighters from Lima didnโ€™t know for the first hour. They just felt thankful for being alive.โ€

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