Passengers panic after Boeing 737 goes off runway and ends up halfway down steep slope close to water’s edge

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A plane skidded off the runway of a Turkish coastal airport and ended up halfway down a steep slope into the Black Sea, causing panic among passengers.

The incident happened on Saturday night at Trabzon airport in north-east Turkey. No passengers or crew were hurt, Turkish media reported on Sunday.

Pictures from the site showed the plane’s nose close to the water’s edge.

Trabzon’s governor, Yücel Yavuz, said all 162 passengers and crew on board were evacuated from the plane. Yavuz said the cause of the accident was not yet known and the airport was closed until 8am local time (5am GMT).

Pegasus Airlines said in a statement that the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which departed from Ankara late on Saturday, “had a runway excursion incident” as it landed, but the 162 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew were unhurt.