Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) Three people have died after a passenger plane skidded off the runway and broke apart while landing at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday.

Koca added that 179 people had been sent to different hospitals in the aftermath of the incident, which appeared to have taken place in poor weather conditions.

He said that three people are currently in an intensive care unit.

The Pegasus Airlines plane was carrying 183 people in total, including 175 adult passengers, two young children and six crew members, Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said. The airline has confirmed that one of its planes, flight number PC2193, had skidded off the runway.

Yerlikaya said the plane skidded up to 60 meters (196 feet) after landing, before falling up to 40 meters down a ditch.

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