Airliner skids, breaks open in Istanbul; 3 dead, 179 injured

“We traveled (on the runway) for some 20 or 30 seconds, then all of a sudden we flew off the runway. It happened in seconds.” SURVIVOR DOGUS BILGIC, 24

Istanbul — A Turkish airliner skidded off a runway, crashed into a ditch and broke apart while landing in bad weather in Istanbul Wednesday, killing three people and injuring dozens more. Passengers had to scramble through the split fuselage to escape.

The aircraft, operated by low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines, was arriving at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport from the western Turkish city of Izmir with 183 passengers and crew on board when it had what the Transportation Ministry described as a “rough landing.”

Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the plane failed to “hold onto the runway” and skidded some 50-60 yards before it dropped into the ditch from a height of about 98 feet.

“We are deeply saddened ... (But) we are very happy that we escaped a greater accident,” Yerlikaya said, adding that the plane could have burst into flames.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported early today that three people had died and 179 required care at multiple hospitals.

Emergency workers, assisted by an excavator, recovered one body from beneath the wreckage before the rescue mission ended.

The airport was shut down after the incident, which occurred about 6:30 p.m. local time, and flights were diverted to Istanbul’s main airport.

Survivor Dogus Bilgic, 24, told Turkish television channel NTV that he fled the smashed plane by way of a gap near his seat and was one of the first passengers to get out.

“We traveled (on the runway) for some 20 or 30 seconds, then all of a sudden we flew off the runway,” he said while seated in a wheelchair because of a leg injury. “It happened in seconds.”

“I was seated in 25C. I believe the plane broke apart at row 26,” Bilgic recalled, adding that he threw himself out of the plane when he saw the opening.

“The front (of the plane) was in a terrible state. I saw, after I was on the ground, that it had completely broken apart,” he said.

As other passengers emerged from the wreckage, Bilgic said he helped two or three to the ground.

“I carried them somewhere because they weren’t doing as well as us,” he said, then ran away from the plane with others, fearing a possible explosion.

“There was complete chaos,” he said.

EMRAH GUREL/AP PHOTO Rescue workers evacuate an injured person from the wreckage of a plane after it skidded off the runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Turkey on Wednesday. The plane skidded off as it tried to land in bad weather, crashing into a field and breaking into pieces.