Plane skids off runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport, 3 died, 157 injured

Istanbul

At least three people died and 179 were injured after a passenger plane skidded off the runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport on Wednesday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported. Th accident took place around 6:30 p.m. local time (1530 UTC). The passenger plane, a Boeing 737, split into three pieces and veered onto a patch of grass next to the runway, in what Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan called a ‘rough landing’. One of aircraft’s wings also caught fire, but the blaze was later extinguished. Passengers had to exit through cracks in the smashed plane. Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said there were 177 passengers and six staff on board the plane, which had been flying back to Istanbul from the western city of Izmir.

‘The plane could not hold on the runway due to poor weather conditions and skidded for around 50-60 meters’, Yerlikaya told reporters at the airport. Footage showed the plane landing and continuing to skid at a high speed off the runway. ‘We are deeply saddened but we are very happy that we escaped a greater accident’, he said, adding that the plane could have burst into flames. Emergency response teams took the wounded passengers to 18 different hospitals in the area, Yerlikaya added. Health Minister Koca said, Three of the injured required surgery and two others were in intensive care, but none of their lives were thought to be in danger.