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WORLD NEWS Saturday 29 September 2018

Everybody on plane survives crash landing in Pacific lagoon

By NICK PERRY weather was poor at the
Associated Press time, with heavy rain and
WELLINGTON, New Zealand reduced visibility.
(AP) — A passenger on a The airline said it was mak-
plane that crashed into a ing all efforts to ensure the
Pacific lagoon on Friday ongoing safety of the pas-
said the flight attendants sengers and meet their im-
were panicking and he mediate needs. It said it
saw water pouring through was in touch with embas-
a hole in the side of the sies, passenger represen-
plane before he was able tatives, stakeholders and
to escape. families of the crew.
Local boats helped rescue Air Niugini is the national
all 47 passengers and crew airline of Papua New Guin-
after the plane hit the wa- ea and has operated since
ter while trying to land at 1973. The airline identified
the Chuuk Island airport in the flight as PX 073 with the
the Micronesia archipela- registration number P2-PXE.
go. Flight histories show the
Seven people were taken aircraft has made recent
to a hospital, according to flights to Manila, Sydney
officials, including one de- Local fishing boats move in to recover the passengers and crew of Air Niugini flight following and Singapore.
scribed as being in critical the plane crashing into the sea on its approach to Chuuk International Airport in the Federated Air Niugini's network is con-
but stable condition. States of Micronesia., Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. Associated Press centrated on domestic
Passenger Bill Jaynes said routes linking the capital,
the Air Niugini plane came "One would think that they acle on the Hudson." the water at about 10 a.m. Port Moresby, with isolated
in very low. might be afraid to ap- Louie Mallari, who was He said he has yet to see points across the Papua
"I thought we landed hard," proach a plane that's just working at a hotel near the a passenger manifest, but New Guinea archipelago,
he said. "Until I looked over crashed." airport, said he could hear typical passengers would but it flies as far as Tokyo
and saw a hole in the side The sequence of events the whole thing happen. include businesspeople and Hong Kong.
of the plane and water was remains unclear. The air- "As the plane approaches, from Micronesia, Papua The fleet includes Boeing
coming in. And I thought, line said the plane landed the sound of the engine is New Guinea and Austra- 767 and 737 jets for interna-
well, this is not the way it's short of the runway. How- getting stronger, then sud- lia, as well as some tourists. tional routes, according to
supposed to happen." ever, Jaynes said the only denly a splash of water," he Chuuk is known for its world- the airline, as well as Fok-
Jaynes said those aboard scenario he can imagine said, adding that he then class diving, with dozens of ker F-100 aircraft, Q400 and
managed to wade through is that it hit the end of the heard screaming. World War II shipwrecks vis- Dash 8 aircraft for challeng-
waist-deep water to the runway and continued into He said it's a good thing ible in the clear waters. ing local terrain.
emergency exits on the the water. that so many people use Harris said he doesn't know Micronesia, located north
sinking plane. The U.S. Navy said sailors boats to travel and were what caused the crash of Australia and east of the
He said the flight atten- working nearby on improv- able to quickly help with landing or whether the pi- Philippines, is home to just
dants were yelling, and that ing a wharf also helped the rescue. lots had alerted air traffic over 100,000 people. It has
he suffered a minor head in the rescue by using an "It's really fortunate that we control of any problems. He close ties with the U.S. un-
injury. He said he called his inflatable boat to shuttle didn't have any fatalities," said an investigative team der an agreement known
wife, who started crying. people ashore before the said Glenn Harris, a gov- would be on the ground in as a compact of free as-
"I was really impressed with plane sank in about 30 me- ernment aviation security Chuuk by Saturday to fig- sociation.The crash land-
the locals who immedi- ters (100 feet) of water. inspector for the Federated ure out what went wrong. ing comes less than two
ately started coming out The striking images of peo- States of Micronesia. The airline said in a state- months before Papua New
in boats," he said in an in- ple being rescued from Harris said the plane left ment that the 35 passen- Guinea hosts the Asia-Pa-
terview with a missionary in the half-submerged plane from the Micronesian island gers and 12 crew mem- cific Economic Coopera-
Chuuk, Matthew Colson, were reminiscent of the of Pohnpei about 700 kilo- bers aboard the Boeing tion summit, expected to
that was posted online and 2009 crash landing in New meters (435 miles) to the 737 were all able to safe- draw world leaders begin-
shared with the AP. York City known as the "Mir- east before ending up in ly evacuate. It said the ning on Nov. 17.q

Storm Zorba bears down on Greece, Athens area also alerted

Associated Press also placed on alert as tal and several other parts
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — the national meteorologi- of the country were closed
Greek authorities have ex- cal service said weather Friday.
tended a severe weather conditions could be life- Some ferry services from
warning to include greater threatening. Winds are ex- ports near Athens resumed
Athens and most of south- pected to reach up to 100 Friday after being mostly
ern Greece over the week- kph (62 mph). halted for the previous two
end as a second powerful On Friday, bad weather days, while the weather
storm — dubbed Zorba — from a previous low-pres- conditions also caused
heads eastward toward sure front toppled trees, flight delays.
the country. causing power outages In neighboring Turkey,
The island of Crete, other in parts of Athens and dis- several weekend soc-
southern islands in the Ae- rupting suburban rail ser- cer matches were can- Waves crash on rocks near port town of Lavrio about 75
gean Sea and most of the vices. celed, also due to bad kilometers (48miles) south of Athens, on Thursday, Sept. 27,
southern mainland was Schools in the Greek capi- weather.q 2018.
Associated Press