HONG KONG– A freight airplane skidded off a Hong Kong runway and hit a security patrol automobile before both fell under the sea early Monday, eliminating the 2 individuals in the vehicle, authorities stated. The aircraft’s 4 team members were unhurt.
The Boeing 747, zipped Turkey-based ACT Airlines, was landing at Hong Kong International Airport around 3:50 a.m. from Dubai. The airplane was being run under lease by Emirates, a long-haul provider based in Dubai.
The pilots did not look for aid before landing and had actually taxied cab about midway down the runway before skidding off to the left, Steven Yiu, the airport authority’s executive director in airport operations, informed a press conference.
” The police car definitely did not hurry onto the runway. It was the aircraft that went off the runway and crashed into the police car outside the fence,” he stated.
When rescue teams showed up, the aircraft was gotten into 2 parts, drifting in the sea, and the 4 team members were waiting to be saved at its open door, stated Yiu Men-yeung, a fire services authorities.
Rescuers dove into the sea and discovered the 2 security employees caught in the vehicle after a 40-minute search, Yiu Men-yeung stated.
television images revealed the airplane partly immersed simply off the edge of the airport’s sea wall. Its front half and cockpit showed up above water, however the tail end appeared to have actually broken off. 2 boats, perhaps with search and rescue workers, were near the airplane.
The crash took place on the north runway of Hong Kong’s airport, among Asia’s busiest. That runway stayed closed, while the 2 others continued to run. Steven Yiu stated flights would be untouched.
Weather condition appropriated at the time the aircraft landed and the reason for the crash was being examined, he stated.
The Air Mishap Examination Authority categorized the case as a mishap, with the examination checking out several aspects, consisting of the flight’s system, operation and upkeep. The cockpit voice recorder and the flight information recorder were being looked for.
Emirates stated the Boeing 747 truck was damp rented and run by ACT Airlines. In damp leases, the business providing the aircraft likewise offers the team, upkeep and insurance coverage. Emirates stated there was no freight on board. The airplane was 32 years of ages, according to Flightradar24.
Hong Kong International Airport was constructed on recovered land by combining 2 smaller sized islands north of Hong Kong’s Lantau Island in the South China Sea, at the mouth of the Pearl River. The northern edge of the north runway lies within a couple of hundred meters (backyards) from the water.
Emirates runs a successful freight company out of Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, the sheikhdom’s 2nd airport, where it prepares a $35 billion enhancement over the coming years. The ACT Airlines’ flight had actually removed from Al Maktoum, called DWC.
Emirates, owned by a sovereign wealth fund in the city-state, kept in mind in its latest yearly report that it had actually included 2 wet-leased Boeing 747s “to serve rising consumer need.” Emirates has some 260 airplane in its fleet, the bulk either Boeing 777s or double-decker Jet A380s.
Monday’s crash marked the 2nd deadly event for ACT Airlines. In 2017, a Boeing 747 zipped ACT Airlines under the name MyCargo crashed as it prepared to land in fog in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, eliminating all 4 team on board and 35 individuals on the ground. ACT Airlines flew that path from Hong Kong on behalf of Turkish Airline companies.
A later report on the crash by Kyrgyz authorities blamed the flight team for misjudging the aircraft’s position while landing in bad weather condition. The team was worn out and had a heated exchange with air traffic control service before the crash, the report stated.
___
Associated Press authors Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, added to this report.
Source: The Washington Times.
