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January 15, 2018

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Plane meters from falling into sea

Source: Agencies | 00:01 UTC+8 January 15, 2018 | Print Edition

A commercial plane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few meters from the sea.

Some of the 168 people on board the Boeing 737-800 described it as a “miracle” that everyone was evacuated safely.

Images show the aircraft on its belly and 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 Black Sea in the Turkish province of Trabzon.

Other images from Dogan news agency showed smoke emanating from the trapped commercial plane.

The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara and landed in Trabzon, but skidded off the runway in the northern airport.

The incident late on Saturday created panic among the 162 passengers on board Pegasus Airlines Flight PC8622. The six-member crew, including two pilots, was also evacuated and Pegasus said there were no injuries. Flights were suspended at the airport but resumed again yesterday.

Passenger Yuksel Gordu told Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency that words weren’t enough to describe their fear.

“It’s a miracle we escaped. We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea,” Gordu said.

Another passenger, Fatma Gordu, told the 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 that investigators were trying to determine why the plane had left the runway. The prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation.

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