Miley Cyrus OK after flight is struck by lightning
Miley Cyrus, seen performing at Lollapalooza Chile 2022 in Santiago, Chile, on Saturday, is currently on tour in Latin America. Credit: Getty Images / Marcelo Hernandez
An airplane carrying pop star Miley Cyrus on the final leg of her current world tour made an emergency landing in South America Tuesday after it was struck by lightning. No one was reported hurt.
Cyrus, 29, who was en route to headline the second day of the Asunciónico 2022 music festival Wednesday, wrote on Twitter and Instagram: "To my fans and everyone worried after hearing about my flight to Asunción," the capital of Paraguay. "Our plane was caught in a major unexpected storm and struck by lightning."
Accompanying the post were a 3-second video showing a flash of light outside an airplane window, followed by gasps from off-screen voices, and a close-up photo of some part of the aircraft's exterior with a large, jagged dent surrounded by scorch marks.
Tuesday night the Paraguayan news website NotiCde tweeted a video of what it said was Cyrus' plane landing at Guaraní International Airport in Minga Guazú, Paraguay, about 180 miles from Asunción, which is served by Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.
"My crew, band, friends and family who were all traveling with me are safe after an emergency landing," Cyrus continued on her social-media posts. "We were unfortunately unable to fly into Paraguay. I LOVE YOU," she added, with an emoji of a broken heart. It was unclear if Cyrus meant Asunción or if the plane indeed landed in another country. Cyrus was flying from Bogotá, Colombia, where she had performed at the Movistar Arena on Monday.
Extreme weather had already caused the Asunciónico concert promoters to cancel Tuesday's initial day of the two-day festival, in which Foo Fighters, Doja Cat and Machine Gun Kelly had been scheduled to headline.
Anchoring the second day was "Wrecking Ball" singer Cyrus — who according to a spokeswoman speaking to USA Today on Wednesday still planned to perform, barring a second-day cancellation — and Jane's Addiction. As of Wednesday evening, the second day remained scheduled.
Cyrus ends her current tour Saturday at Lollapalooza Brasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
