The aircraft, an AIRES-operated Boeing 737-700, was arriving from the Colombian capital Bogotá when it heavily touched down short of the runway, breaking up in three sections.

The official investigation concluded that the crash was caused by the misjudgment by the crew of the aircraft's altitude during the last phase of the approach.

[3] A popular tourist destination, San Andres Island is about 190 kilometres (120 mi; 100 nmi) east of the Nicaraguan coast.

[4] The crash occurred as the aircraft landed at San Andrés at 1:49 am local Western Caribbean Time (UTC−05:00).

[7][10][11][12] One early report stated that 114 people were injured in the crash, and that of 99 passengers taken to the Amor de Patria Hospital on San Andrés, only four had had major injuries.

[2][3] The second fatality was a 10-year-old girl;[14] she sustained substantial brain damage[citation needed] and died 16 days after the accident.

[15] One report stated that the passenger list included six Americans, five Mexicans, four Brazilians, four Ecuadorians, and two Germans with the rest being Colombians.

[12] There were conflicting reports over what caused the crash, suggesting that the landing was disrupted after the aircraft was hit by a downdraft, or struck by lightning.

Officials refused to comment on the reports of a lightning strike,[3][5][8] although subsequent research proved that[specify] was not true.

[7] The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to support the Colombian-led investigation as representatives of the manufacturer's state.

This is typical of a "black hole" illusion, which is experienced during a night approach to a low contrast runway environment surrounded by bright lights, aggravated by heavy rain.