Two airport workers at Hong Kong International Airport have been killed after a Boeing 747 jumbo jet operating a freighter service for Emirates SkyCargo skidded off the runway as it was attempting to land in the early hours of Monday morning.
The aircraft crashed through a fence, hit an airport patrol vehicle with two workers inside, and plunged into the sea at around 3:50 am on October 20.
All four crew members on the Boeing 747 were able to escape using an emergency evacuation slide from the upper deck of the aircraft, but tragically, both airport workers were confirmed to have died in the incident.
The aircraft was owned and operated by Turkish cargo airline AirACT, but it was flying on behalf of Dubai-based Emirates SkyCargo, which is part of the wider Emirates Group.
The plane had departed Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport as Emirates flight EK-9788 on Sunday evening for an otherwise uneventful seven-hour flight to Hong Kong.
The 32-year-old aircraft attempted to land on Runway 7L, which forms part of a large extension of Hong Kong International Airport. Like the rest of the airport, Runway 7L was reclaimed from the sea as part of major works that began in 2017 and were only completed in 2022.
As it attempted to land, the aircraft slid off the runway and hit the airport vehicle before coming to a rest partially in the sea. The vehicle and its two occupants were thrown into the water, and local officials later confirmed that both workers had died.
Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority has started to probe the incident, although investigators are still trying to locate the so-called Black Boxes, which comprise the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
Although it is far too early to say what the cause of the accident was, local officials say that weather conditions were suitable for aircraft to land on Runway 7L.
The aircraft was wet-leased to Emirates SkyCargo, meaning that AirACT provided the plane, crew, maintenance, and insurance.
Despite the scale of the accident and the continuing closure of Runway 7L, Hong Kong Airport officials say they plan to continue to operate the airport’s full schedule on Monday.
