Plane crashes in water by Micronesian island; all survive

A passenger on a plane that crashed into a Pacific lagoon Friday said the flight attendants were panicking and he saw water pouring through a hole in the side of the plane before he was able to escape.

Local boats helped rescue all 47 passengers and crew after the plane hit the water while trying to land at the Chuuk Island airport in the Micronesia archipelago.

Seven people were taken to a hospital, according to officials, including one described as being in critical but stable condition.

Passenger Bill Jaynes said the Air Niugini plane came in very low.

“I thought we landed hard,” he said. “Until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water was coming in. And I thought, ‘Well, this is not the way it’s supposed to happen.’”

Jaynes said those aboard managed to wade through waist-deep water to the emergency exits on the sinking plane.

He said the flight attendants were yelling, and that he suffered a minor head injury. He said he called his wife, who started crying.

“I was really impressed with the locals who immediately started coming out in boats,” he said in an interview with a missionary in Chuuk, Matthew Colson, that was posted online and shared with the AP.

“One would think that they might be afraid to approach a plane that’s just crashed.”

The sequence of events remains unclear. The airline said the plane landed short of the runway. However, Jaynes said the only scenario he can imagine is that it hit the end of the runway and continued into the water.

The U.S. Navy said sailors working nearby on improving a wharf also helped in the rescue by using an inflatable boat to shuttle people ashore before the plane sank in about 100 feet of water.

“It’s really fortunate that we didn’t have any fatalities,” said Glenn Harris, a government aviation security inspector for the Federated States of Micronesia.

Harris said the plane left from the Micronesian island of Pohnpei about 435 miles to the east before ending up in the water at about 10 a.m.

He said he has yet to see a passenger manifest, but typical passengers would include businesspeople from Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, as well as some tourists. Chuuk is known for its world-class diving.