TRABZON, Turkey (NBCNC) – It’s a heart-stopping sight–a Boeing 737 full of passengers, dangling off a cliff, its nose, a few perilous feet from the water.
One of the wheels lodged above the wing with the starboard engine, ripped from the aircraft, floating below.
The chaos on-board was captured on camera as panicked passengers rushed to evacuate from the back of the plane.
Outside, firefighters hosed the smoking jet with water. Emergency crews secured the plane to keep it from sliding down the muddy slope and plunging into the sea
The Pegasus Airlines flight took off from the Turkish capital of Ankara just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, arriving in Trabzon, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, around 11:30.
There was light rain and mist as the plane touched down when it suddenly veered and skidded off the runway nosediving down the steep cliff
Pegasus, the Turkish carrier, apologized for what it called “a runway excursion incident.”
Miraculously, everyone on board survived. 162 passengers, four crew members and two pilots, all dirty and dazed after their ordeal, but alive.
Local officials still haven’t been able to recover the plane, that’s going to take a few days. They’re waiting for special equipment.
We do understand that both pilots have made their statements to investigators, both reportedly passed breathalyzer tests and authorities are now turning the plane’s black box for clues.
Authorities in Turkey are still trying to figure out why that passenger plane skidded off the runway. The pilot reportedly told investigators the plane went off course after the engine mysteriously surged in power.
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