Everybody on plane survives crash landing in Pacific lagoon
A passenger on a plane that crashed into a Pacific lagoon on 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 members 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, officials said, 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 waistdeep 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.
The sequence of events re mains 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 to improve 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.