Flowery Branch couple survives Colombia plane crash

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A weekend trip to visit family and a new Caribbean getaway home turned harrowing for a Flowery Branch couple, who were left critically injured after surviving a Saturday jet crash.

Carolina and David Bellino were injured when their Boeing 737 jet with 131 people on board broke apart on landing on the Colombian island of San Andres and they dragged themselves from the wreckage. On Tuesday, they were flown to Bogota and both had surgery.

Seven weeks pregnant, Carolina, 25, arrived at the Bogota hospital and began reaching out to friends at home to tell them that she and David, 46, and the baby she carried were alive, said Cynthia Herndon, a family friend.

"In her moment of distress, she knew the church would be there for her," said Herndon, a member of the Chestnut Mountain Church.

David Bellino's sister, Debbie Meredith, said both her brother and sister-in-law were flown to a hospital in Bogota to have surgery for spinal fractures. Her brother's spine injury was severe enough to require a body cast.

"He cannot move right now," said Meredith in a post on her Facebook page. She could not be reached Tuesday by phone.

The couple had just bought a house on San Andres and flew down for two weeks to remodel the home. In a phone interview with ABC-TV show Good Morning America, that was transcribed on Meredith's Facebook page, Carolina Bellino described a frightening ordeal during the Saturday crash. She recalled falling asleep next to her husband in an emergency window seat and waking up to chaos.

"I remember the flight attendant saying get ready for landing," Carolina Bellino said in the phone interview from the hospital. "After that, what I remember is my husband pulling me through the exit door."

Carolina Bellino also said her husband struggled to open the emergency exit.

"First he got out and tried to open the door," she said. "He came back for me. He collapsed."

Carolina Bellino next described emerging from the plane to find it in pieces.

"The plane broke in three or four pieces," she said. "The wing was covered in fuel. My husband tried to drag me. It was full of fuel. I was concerned we would have (an) explosion. My husband couldn't move."

Doctors told Carolina Bellino that her injuries had not affected the health of the baby she was carrying, Tipton said.

Carolina Bellino commented how remarkable it was only one passenger, a woman who was a heart attack victim, had died during the accident.

"It's a nightmare," she said. "But I'm thankful I'm alive."