Airline passengers arriving in California from Mexico City describe feeling quake from the tarmac

Passengers aboard a flight from Mexico City to San Francisco on Tuesday described what it was like to feel the country’s massive earthquake from the tarmac just as their flight was scheduled to take off.

After landing at San Francisco International Airport, the passengers aboard the United Airlines Flight told KNTV that they were boarding the flight just as the ground began to shake and their plane and others on the tarmac began to “bounce.�

“We were still boarding and just suddenly the plane was shaking,� Francisco Gabino told KNTV. “I never experienced an earthquake.�

Zaira Valencia said the temblor knocked things over on the plane and rattled passengers.

“Just a lot of movement. A lot of things started falling. People were crying. It was scary,� she said.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing homes and bridges for hundreds of miles. At least 217 people have died. Mexico City is about 100 miles away from the quake’s epicenter, but damage was still significant in the densely populated capital.

Gislady Skaggs, a passenger aboard the San Francisco-bound flight, described what it looked like on the airport’s tarmac.

“I opened up the window, and all the planes on the runway were just bouncing, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ � she said.

Another passenger leaving the flight said simply, “I come back safe. Thank you, Jesus.�

Passengers said the flight was delayed more than two hours.

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