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Forty-five minutes into a flight carrying Dan Liljenquist and his fellow humanitarian workers over Guatemalan farmland, the pilots frantically started flipping switches and the smell of burnt oil filled the cabin, Liljenquist said Wednesday from his hospital bed in Guatemala City.
Liljenquist, one of the few survivors of the crash landing that followed on Sunday, said the engine cut out and smoke was visible outside his window as the pilots coasted in search of a field.
"We banked really hard left, came about 15 feet from hitting a mountainside and banked left again," he said. "I knew it was going to be a pretty brutal impact. I think we clipped a tree and the next thing I remember is realizing that I was alive."
Liljenquist, president and chief operating officer of Roy-based Focus Services, Inc., and a Republican candidate for state Senate District 23, was one of only three survivors of the crash, which killed 11 people, including three from Utah.
He was seated in the back row, close to a door, which gave him extra room to let him to stretch out his legs. That, he said, was key to his survival.
The impact broke Liljenquist's right leg and left ankle, but he remained conscious, he said, refusing to let the crash kill him and determined to escape the burning plane.
"I told myself 'not today,' " he said.
Liljenquist was only able to pull himself about two feet out of the plane, and he desperately summoned villagers who pulled him across a field to safety. Seconds later, he said, the plane exploded.
Liljenquist and three others survived the impact, but one woman died later at a hospital.
"It was a miracle I survived," he said. "I was extraordinarily fortunate."
Others were not. Four of Liljenquist's co-workers, all close friends, died on impact. The trip was a joint venture between CHOICE Humanitarian, a West Jordan-based nonprofit, and Liljenquist's company. The group was to spend seven days building a school in a Guatemalan village.
The crash killed five CHOICE Humanitarian workers, including Expedition Director Liz Johnson, Cody Odekirk and John Carter of Utah; Roger Jensen and his son Zachary of Wisconsin; and Guatemalan CHOICE representatives Javier Rabanales and Walfred de Rabanales. The pilot and co-pilot, Fernando Estrada and Monica Bonilla, both of Guatemala, also died, according to The Associated Press.
Odekirk and Carter were Focus Services employees, as were Jeff Reppe and Lydia Silva of Illinois, who also were killed.
Liljenquist said he was planning to fly back to Utah on a commercial flight Thursday after a final clearance from his doctors in Guatemala City. Doctors told him he will make a full recovery, but will need to recuperate at home for up to 10 weeks. Liljenquist said he eventually will refocus on his Senate campaign, but that was the last thing on his mind.
"Four of my close friends passed away on that plane. That's all I'm thinking about," he said. "My campaign seems minor and unimportant right now. We'll figure out what to do when that comes along."
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