Two killed cargo plane skids off runway into the sea in Hong Kong

By Chris Lau, Heather Law, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — A cargo plane skidded off the runway and into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) early Monday, killing two airport staff in a vehicle it struck and pushed into the water.

The Boeing aircraft, operated by Turkish cargo carrier ACT Airlines, went off course on arrival from Dubai around 3:50 a.m. local time, officials said, breaking in two as it came off the runway.

The aircraft was left partially submerged with its tail section snapped off, video showed. The front section of the plane, below the cockpit, also suffered significantly damage.

“Unfortunately, an airport security patrol car was there at that time. The aircraft collided with the patrol car and pushed the car into the sea,” said Steven Yiu, HKIA’s Executive Director of Airport Operations. The two occupants were killed.

The four crew members onboard the plane were sent to local hospitals for medical treatment.

The aircraft did not indicate any signs of distress on approach, said Wesley Yung, the technical chief at Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department. “We did not receive any request for assistance from the pilots,” he said.

More than 200 people, fire engines and boats were involved in the massive emergency response effort underway on Monday morning.

The airport has suspended operations on its north runway until the aircraft is removed from the sea.

The more than 1,000 daily flights in and out of Hong Kong would not be affected, the airport’s operations director Yiu said, as the airport’s two other runways are still up and running

The flight had an Emirates flight number, but a spokesperson for the airline said the aircraft had been wet-leased from ACT Airlines, who also operated the flight. ACT Airlines provides extra cargo capacity to major airlines.

“Crew are confirmed to be safe and there was no cargo onboard,” the Emirates spokesperson said, without elaborating on the flying experience of the crew.

CNN has reached out to ACT Airlines for comment.

Despite being one of the world’s busiest airports, fatal aviation accidents are rare at Hong Kong International Airport, located on an island about 20 miles west of the Asian financial hub’s Central district

In 1999, a major crash killed at least two people and injured more than 200, when a China Airlines flight landed upside down during a typhoon, just a year after the airport officially opened.

Before moving the current site, the city’s former Kai Tak Airport – then located in the densely populated Kowloon City area – was considered by pilots as one of the most difficult airports in the world to land at.

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