Cathay Pacific plane hits pole at Rome airport, leaving right wing badly crushed

The right wing of a Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 777 plane was badly crushed after it hit a floodlight pole at Rome airport on Wednesday morning, as the plane was being towed by ground staff.

A photo from a source showed the area of the wing known as the outboard aileron badly mangled, exposing crushed aluminium and composite material.

Cathay Pacific confirmed one of its aircraft “was involved in a towing incident in which one of its wing tips struck a standing pole”.

“The incident occurred when the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft was being towed by a truck operated by a local ground handling agent at the airport,” a spokeswoman said.

Separate images posted on a Rome-based aviation spotting Facebook page showed the wing of the six-year old Hong Kong-registered aircraft “B-KPY” firmly wedged into the pole.

An engineering source at the airline who viewed photos of the incident said the damage was fixable, but it would not be an easy job.