At least two people were killed after a cargo aircraft skidded off the runway and crashed into the sea at Hong Kong airport in the early hours of Monday.
The Emirates flight EK9788, arriving from Dubai, veered off the runway at Hong Kong International Airport around 3.50am local time while landing, police said.
The Boeing 747 freighter failed to stop in time and partly landed in the waters off the north runway at the airport, which is one of the busiest in Asia.
Police said the aircraft struck a ground service vehicle during landing, ripping off one of its wheels and pushing it into the sea. Two ground staff were inside the vehicle at the time and were initially reported missing.
One 30-year-old member of the ground staff crew was confirmed dead at the scene, while a 41-year-old was declared dead at a hospital.
Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department said in a statement on Monday that the aircraft had “deviated from the north runway after landing and ditched into the sea”.
Photos taken after the incident showed the aircraft partially submerged in water near the airport’s sea wall with an escape slide deployed and the nose and tail sections separated.
At least 213 firefighters and first aid officers were deployed in the rescue mission, alongside 45 vehicles, ships and a flying service helicopter. The operation continued well into the morning.
The four crew members had to break open the door before being rescued from the sea.
Man Ka-chai, the chief investigator from the Air Accident Investigation Authority, said that the aircraft was given the green light to land and did not issue any distress signal. The control tower “did not receive any requests for assistance” even as the plane tore through the runway fencing, the official said.
The positioning of the ground patrol vehicle at the time was “in full accordance with the Civil Aviation Department’s standards,” said Steven Yiu, the Airport Authority’s executive director of airport operations. He added: "The patrol car absolutely did not rush onto the runway. It was the plane that went off the runway and crashed into the patrol car outside the fence.”
Passenger flight operations at Hong Kong will remain unaffected by the cargo plane crash, the airport authorities said. However, at least 12 cargo flights have been cancelled so far.
The north runway has been closed, authorities said, while two other runways at the airport continue to operate.
The city’s civil aviation department added that it was following up with the airline and other parties involved in the crash.
Hong Kong authorities said they were trying to retrieve the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder from the sea. The investigation speed “depends on when we'll find the black boxes”, an official was quoted by BBC News as saying.
Emirates said in a statement that flight EK9788 sustained damage on landing in Hong Kong and was a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft leased from and operated by ACT Airlines. “Crew are confirmed to be safe and there was no cargo onboard,” Emirates said.
The Boeing 747 freighter is a Turkish air cargo carrier AirACT aircraft flying for Emirates SkyCargo. It was flying from Al Maktoum International Airport.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said the aircraft involved in the accident was 32 years old and had served as a passenger plane before being converted into a freighter.
The Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) expressed “deep concern” over the incident. “The TLB is saddened by the loss of two ground staff members in the accident and extends its deepest condolences to their families,” the bureau’s spokesperson said, adding that “flight safety is of utmost importance”.
Monday’s crash was the deadliest airport accident in Hong Kong since a China Airlines flight crashed on landing in 1999, killing three of the 315 people on board, according to an Aviation Safety Network database.
China’s leader Xi Jinping lays out plan for next five years of Communist Party
Chinese Communist Party expels nine top generals in anti-corruption crackdown
US and Chinese top officials plan another meet to defuse trade tensions
Taiwan bars officials and students from China’s ‘retrocession’ events
Netherlands seizes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia under Cold War-era law
Scott Bessent says Chinese top trade envoy came to Washington uninvited
