(ANKARA, Turkey) — A plane skidded off the runway Wednesday at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport, crashing into a field and breaking into pieces. Passengers were seen evacuating through cracks in the plane and authorities said some had been injured.
Television footage showed serious damage to the plane, with the fuselage appearing to be broken into three pieces. NTV television reported that the plane caught fire after skidding but said it had been extinguished.
The plane, belonging to the low-cost airline Pegasus, arrived from the city of Izmir, private NTV television reported. Transportation Ministry says it carried 177 passengers on board but that no one has been killed in what it called a “rough landing.”
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane is a Boeing 737.
NTV television quoted Transportation Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan as saying some passengers were injured. He says emergency crews are still evacuating some passengers from the wreck but most of them evacuated on their own.
The airport was shut down and flights were being diverted to Istanbul’s main airport, he said.
