Two passenger planes crashed into each other on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport, according to local reports.
Nobody was injured when the United Airlines flight, which had just landed from New Jersey at Gate 73 at Terminal 7, came into contact with the Alaska Airlines jet, which was departing from Gate 66.
According to a statement from Alaska Airlines reported by CBS News, the plane “was being pushed back from the gate about 7:45pm and its wingtip clipped another aircraft”.
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The 182 passengers on the plane managed to continue their journey to Portland on a different aircraft around two hours later on Sunday evening.
United Airlines said its plane has been “taxiing to the gate at a low speed” before the incident in a statement reported by CBS News. The 169 passengers on board left as normal and engineers inspected the aircraft.
Two planes hit each other at #LAX #united #Alaska pic.twitter.com/2I6Jou1pa6
— C's Hernandez (@brujo11c) September 14, 2015
Diana Westmyer, a passenger on the United Airlines flight, told CBS Local in Los Angeles she felt a jolt when the planes came into contact and that all the passengers were asked to remain seated by the pilot.
“And then they came back and said we can’t move yet because they’re connected. They said they wanted everyone to sit back down because they were either [going to] pull us away from the other plane or pull the other plane away from us.”
A large piece of the plane was broken off, she added.
Another passenger on the flight said the situation was handled well.
So..... the @united plane I'm on was pulling into the gate at LAX and....another plane just RAN INTO US! Planes are stuck together.
— Peter Cambor (@petercambor) September 14, 2015
Guys coming out to separate the planes! @united @flyLAXairport pic.twitter.com/mAxJfQ1vsG
— Peter Cambor (@petercambor) September 14, 2015
Thanks @united crew for handling situation professionally and safely! Off the plane!
— Peter Cambor (@petercambor) September 14, 2015
ABC7 reported that The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the incident.
