Two dead after cargo plane skids off Hong Kong runway into sea

BBC:

A cargo plane skidded off a runway at Hong Kong International Airport and landed in the sea early on Monday, killing two ground staff.

Emirates flight EK9788 was arriving from Dubai at about 03:50 local time (19:50 GMT) when it veered off the runway and collided with an airport patrol vehicle.

The two people inside the vehicle died, while the four crew members onboard the plane survived the crash.

It marks one of Hong Kong’s deadliest aviation incidents in years – the city’s international airport has had a good safety record.

Authorities have launched an investigation as questions remain 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.

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

“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.