Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2128230/plane-teeters-cliff-after-skidding-runway-turkey Europe
Plane teeters over cliff after skidding off runway in Turkey
All 168 people evacuated from the plane safely
A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 passenger plane is seen struck in mud on an embankment, a day after skidding off the airstrip, after landing at Trabzon's airport on the Black Sea coast on January 14, 2018. Photo” Dogan news agency via AFP
A commercial air plane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously on Sunday off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few feet from the Black Sea.
Some of the 168 people on board the Boeing 737-800 described it as a “miracle” that everyone was evacuated safely from the plane, which went off a runway at Trabzon Airport.
Images show the aircraft on its belly and perched at an acute angle just above the water. If it had slid any further along the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the sea.
Pegasus Airlines said no one was injured during the incident late on Saturday, despite the panic among the 162 passengers on board. The six-member crew, including two pilots, was also evacuated. Flights were suspended at Trabzon Airport for several hours before resuming again on Sunday.
Passenger Yuksel Gordu told Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency that words weren’t enough to describe the fear on the aircraft.
“It’s a miracle we escaped. We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea,” Gordu said. “Thank God for this. I feel like I’m going crazy when I think about it.”
An airplane passes by the Pegasus Airlines plane which skidded off the runway at Trabzon airport by the Black Sea in Trabzon, Turkey, on January 14, 2018. Photo: Xinhua
Another passenger, Fatma Gordu, told private Dogan news agency that there was a loud sound after landing.
“We swerved all of a sudden,” she said. “The front of the plane crashed and the back was in the air. Everyone panicked.”
Trabzon Governor Yucel Yavuz said investigators were trying to determine why the plane had left the runway. The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation.
The flight originated in the Turkish capital, Ankara.