Early on Monday morning, a cargo plane overran the runway while landing at Hong Kong International Airport. The crash resulted in a horrific scene and led to early media reports of deaths on the scene. The incident occurred at approximately 3:50 am local time when flight EK9788, a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft wet-leased from ACT Airlines and operated under an Emirates flight number, arrived from Dubai.
According to the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong, the plane went off the north runway following touchdown. It subsequently splashed down in the ocean. When the northern runway was next closed, operations on the south and central runways went ahead and stayed relatively free-flowing.
Emergency response teams quickly recovered the four crew members aboard the aircraft. While one ground crew member was rescued, another is still unaccounted for and presumed dead, as of Wednesday morning. Initial media reports indicate at least two deaths are believed to be related to this collapse. These assertions have not thus far been substantiated by official sources.
Emirates Airlines later issued a statement confirming the aircraft was damaged on landing. The airline further reassured that “crew are accounted for and no cargo was on board.”
Investigators have been hard at work trying to determine what led to the crash. In the meantime, airport authorities are trying to assure passengers that Monday’s flights will not be compromised. We are watching the situation closely, and in coming days more updates should be forthcoming from resilient transportation officials.
Our thoughts are with the missing ground staff member and those involved in the search and rescue efforts. The Civil Aviation Department has initiated a special inquiry into the incident to ascertain all circumstances. They want to make sure there’s accountability and dangers are remedied in future operations.