Plane dangles off cliff after skidding off runway

Associated Press

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

A commercial airplane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously Sunday off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few feet from the Black Sea.

Some of the 168 people on board the Boeing 737-800 described it as a “miracle” that everyone was evacuated safely from the plane, which went off a runway at Trabzon Airport.

Images show the aircraft on its belly and perched at an acute angle just above the water. If it had slid any further along the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the sea in the Turkish province of Trabzon.

Pegasus Airlines said no one was injured during the incident late Saturday, despite the panic among the 162 passengers on board Flight PC8622. The six-member crew, including two pilots, was also evacuated. Flights were suspended at Trabzon Airport for several hours before resuming again Sunday.

Passenger Yuksel Gordu told Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency that words weren’t enough to describe the fear on the aircraft.

“It’s a miracle we escaped. We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea,” Gordu said. “Thank God for this. I feel like I’m going crazy when I think about it.”

Trabzon Gov. Yucel Yavuz said investigators were trying to determine why the plane had left the runway. The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation.