Two Dead After Cargo Plane Skids Off Hong Kong Runway Into Sea

Two Hong Kong airport security staff were killed when a cargo plane skidded off a runway, hit their patrol vehicle and ploughed into the sea.

Emirates flight EK9788 was arriving from Dubai at about 03:50 local time (19:50 GMT) when it veered off the runway, crashed through perimeter fencing and collided with the security vehicle, pushing it into the water.

The two people inside died. The Boeing 747 ended up partly submerged, but the four crew on board survived.

Officials are investigating the cause of the crash on the north runway. Two other runways remain operational. It’s one of the deadliest aviation incidents in years at Hong Kong International Airport, which has a good safety record.
The investigation will focus on the unanswered questions over the path taken by the plane upon landing.

Airport officials have said they gave the correct instructions to the plane and that there are signs on the runway to guide aircraft.

Airport operations executive director Steven Yiu said the patrol car was, at the time, travelling on a road outside of the runway’s fencing “at a safe distance from the runway”.

The plane then turned away from the runway, crashed through the fencing and collided with the vehicle, pushing it into the sea, Mr Yiu explained.

“Normally the plane is not supposed to turn towards the sea,” he said at a news conference hours after the incident, adding that the plane did not send out a distress signal when it was landing.

He stressed that the airport patrol car “definitely did not run out onto the runway”.

The weather, runway conditions, the aircraft and its crew will all be looked at as part of the investigation, Mr Yiu said.

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