Cargo Plane Skids Off Runway Into Car, Both Fall Into Sea

A cargo jet skidded off a runway at Hong Kong International Airport early Monday and crashed into a security patrol car, sending both the plane and the vehicle into the sea. Authorities confirmed that the two people inside the patrol car were killed, while the aircraft’s four crew members escaped unharmed.

The Boeing 747, operated by Turkey-based ACT Airlines under lease to Emirates, was completing a flight from Dubai when it attempted to land around 3:50 a.m. local time, according to airport officials and the Associated Press.

Steven Yiu, the Airport Authority’s executive director of airport operations, said the aircraft had already taxied about halfway down the runway before veering off to the left and striking the patrol car.

“The patrol car absolutely did not enter the runway. It was the plane that left the runway and collided with the patrol car outside the fence,” Yiu explained at a press conference.

When emergency teams arrived, the plane had broken into two sections and was floating in the sea. The four crew members were found waiting for rescue at an open door, said Yiu Men-yeung of Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department. Divers later located the patrol car and recovered the two victims trapped inside after a 40-minute search.

The incident occurred on the airport’s north runway, one of Asia’s busiest. That runway has been closed pending investigation, though Hong Kong’s two other runways remain operational. Yiu said flight schedules were not expected to be affected.

Weather conditions at the time were suitable for landing, officials said, and investigators are working to determine what caused the aircraft to lose control. Efforts are underway to recover both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

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