An Emirates cargo plane slid off the runway at Hong Kong International Airport, struck a patrol vehicle and careened into the sea early on Monday, killing two ground crew members who were inside the vehicle, local officials said.
After landing at the airport’s north runway, Flight UAE9788 deviated from the runway and skidded into the sea at about 3:50 a.m., Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement. The aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane, was arriving from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, the statement said. The cause of the accident was unclear.
The patrol car was pushed into the sea by the aircraft. Rescuers found the ground crew members submerged in the vehicle, Steven Yiu, the executive director of airport operations, said at a news briefing after the incident.
One of the dead was a 41-year-old man who had worked at the airport for seven years, and the other was a 30-year-old man who had been employed there for 12 years, Mr. Yiu said.
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Four crew members were on the plane, all of whom were rescued and taken to a hospital, the authorities said.
The airport’s north runway was closed immediately after the incident, the Civil Aviation Department said. Photos from the scene show the plane partially submerged in the water. Flights were diverted to the airport’s two other runways, Mr. Yiu said.
The Civil Aviation Department said an investigation was underway.
The aircraft did not send any distress signals before landing and had taxied almost halfway across the runway before veering into the vehicle, Mr. Liu said.
“The patrol car definitely did not overrun the runway; it was the aircraft that overran the runway and struck the patrol car,” he said.
Emirates said in a statement that the aircraft had been leased from and was operated by Act Airlines, a Turkish operator. It was carrying no cargo, Emirates said.
In September, an Airbus A320-232 passenger jet operated by Hong Kong Express veered off the same runway onto a grassy area while landing during a typhoon. No injuries were reported, and the incident remains under investigation.
Berry Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
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