Three passengers onboard a Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-86J which crashed after landing in atrocious conditions at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport have been killed.
According to reports, the plane skidded for 50-60 meters beyond the end of the runway and then broke into three main sections as the topography dropped 30-40 meters. There were 183 passengers and crew on the plane, many who subsequently required medical attention at one of 18 nearby hospitals, according to the governor of Istanbul, Ali Yerlikaya. He also told reporters that: “The plane could not hold on the runway due to poor weather conditions and skidded for around 50-60 metres.”
At one point the fire broke out in the aircraft but this was efficiently extinguished by fire crews in attendance. The plane was an internal domestic flight from the western Turkish province of İzmir and, after the crash on Wednesday all further flights to and from the airport were canceled.
