Forty-six people aboard Air Niugini flight 73 miraculously survived after the aircraft crashed short of the runway Friday at Chuuk International Airport on Weno island in Chuuk state, in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The Boeing 737 eventually sank into the waters of a 100-foot-deep lagoon, but only after 46 passengers and crew had been safely evacuated from the aircraft.

"No serious injuries. ... Everybody is alive!" Jimmy Emilio, the airport's manager, confirmed by phone to The Guam Daily Post.

The plane was on a flight from Pohnpei to Chuuk, enroute to Port Moresby, New Guinea.

When the plane went down, many local boaters and the local rescue team immediately rushed to the crash site, Emilio said.

A team of U.S. Navy underwater sailors happened to be nearby and assisted in getting some of the passengers and crew off the plane and onto safe ground.

"Everybody is safely off the plane," the airport manager added.

He said the passengers and crew were transported to the local hospital.

Dr. Siana Shapucy, the acting medical director at Chuuk State Hospital, said at 2 p.m. Friday, Guam time, that eight people had been hospitalized. One was on a ventilator while some of the other patients suffered various fractures.

A video posted by Eriko Rekis to his Facebook page shows many boaters immediately responding as the aircraft hit the lagoon water, and helping passengers disembark the half-submerged plane and transporting them to safe ground.

'The plane is sinking!'

Some of the responders were heard making an appeal for others to help.

"The plane is crashing. ... Please come and help. Try and save the people inside. We need help," was the plea from some of the initial responders. The plea was in Chuukese, and Guam resident William Williander helped translate the messages.

"Thank you for helping. Please bring in new boats! The plane is sinking!" pleaded one rescuer, as boats swarmed the crashed aircraft.

The aircraft is a Boeing 737, said public affairs manager Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Washington, which was in nearby waters, was heading to the crash site to help, the Coast Guard's Guam office confirmed Friday.

Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea's leading airline, with more than 20 destinations nationally and 10 internationally, according to its website.

A United Airlines flight from Guam that had been scheduled to land at the same airport in Chuuk was diverted to Pohnpei.

A team from Auckland, New Zealand, is expected to arrive in Chuuk today to try and salvage the plane.

A first for Chuuk

"In the history of Chuuk, this is the first crash that we have ever experienced," said Williander, who is from Chuuk.

"It's very scary and very sad," he said – sad that the people in Chuuk experienced such a disaster.

He said the Department of Transportation in Chuuk receives training from the FAA every year.

"They have training, but I fully believe we don't have (the necessary rescue) equipment," he said. "They are using the local boats to rescue the people. They are using the local fiber boats."

Reporters Lannie Walker and John O'Connor contributed to this report.