Plane breaks into Pieces after skidding off runway at Istanbul's Airport
A plane on Wednesday skidded off the runway in Istanbul, causing damage to its fuselage.At least 52 people were injured, and passengers were seen evacuating through the cracks in the plane. There were no immediate reports of any casualties. Television footage shows serious damage to the fuselage with passengers being evacuated through the cracks. The fuselage appears to have broken into three pieces.
NTV television also reported that the plane caught fire after the skidding but it has since been extinguished. The plane, belonging to Pegagus Airlines, arrived from the city of Izmir, private NTV television reported. NTV says the airport has been shut down.
The airport was shut down and flights were being diverted to Istanbul’s main airport.
Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said at least 52 people were injured in the accident and have been hospitalized. His office said the plane was carrying 177 people, including six crew members.
Live television footage showed dozens of rescue crew members working around the flood-lit fuselage, including around the cockpit, which had flipped over.
The Transportation Ministry said there had been no deaths in what it called a “rough landing.”
“According to the information we have, there was a rough landing. The accident occurred after (the plane) could not decelerate and rammed into a field from the end of the runway,” state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Mehmet Cahit Turan as saying.
He added that authorities have had “no contact” yet with the pilots.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane is a Boeing 737.
The accident comes a month after another Pegasus plane skidded off the runway in Istanbul at the same airport. There were no deaths or injuries in that incident on Jan. 7.
It is rare for a fuselage to split open while pieces remain largely intact. Planes are designed to absorb impact forces in the bottom of the fuselage to improve the chances that passengers in the cabin above will survive.
In 2013, the tail of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 broke off after the jet hit a seawall during approach to San Francisco International Airport. Three people died, 49 were seriously injured and scores more suffered minor injuries, according to the U.S. accident report.
That same year, a Lion Air Boeing 737 split in two after landing in shallow water short of the runway in Bali, Indonesia. All 101 passengers and seven crew members survived.
