Cause Of Turkish Airlines Crash In Amsterdam Unclear
2009年2月26日
A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on landing at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, killing at least nine of the 134 people onboard and injuring 50, according to local officials and the airline.
The accident's cause remained unclear, although the plane's impact short of its runway and survivors' comments in various media suggest something went wrong just as the jetliner was preparing to touch down.
It could be days or weeks before a clear picture emerges of what is the third significant fatal airliner crash this month.
On Feb. 7, an Embraer (ERJ) propeller plane crashed in Brazil, apparently due to engine failure, killing 24 of the 28 people on board. Five days later, a propeller plane operated by an affiliate of Continental Airlines (CAL) crashed near landing at Buffalo, NY, killing all 49 people onboard.
But the Amsterdam accident is also the fourth major crash-landing in 13 months in which all or most of the passengers escaped relatively unharmed. In addition to the remarkable ditching of a US Airways (LCC) Airbus A320 in the Hudson River on Jan. 15 after its engines ingested birds, a British Airways (BAY.LN) Boeing 777 on Jan. 17, 2008, crash-landed short of its runway at London's Heathrow Airport because of engine problems. A Ryanair (RYA.DB) Boeing 737 last Nov. 10 made a hard emergency landing at Rome's Ciampino Airport after flying through a large flock of starlings.
Turkish Airlines flight TK 1951 was landing from Istanbul when it slammed down in a muddy field short of the runway and broke into three pieces. Airport emergency services arrived quickly and 60 ambulances took the injured to 11 hospitals around the region, officials said.
Six of the injured were in very serious condition, and another 49 were either severely or lightly injured, officials from the region and the airport said. Several of the dead, including three crew members in the cockpit, remained in the crumpled plane almost 10 hours after the accident, the officials said. The officials said the death toll could rise.
Daniel Michaels |
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