NEWS-Plane Skids Off Runway in Myan

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS-Plane Skids Off Runway in Myanmar

Wednesday October 27 6:45 AM ET 
Plane Skids Off Runway in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - An Indian Airlines plane trying to land in high
wind and heavy rains skidded off a runway and into deep mud, but all 92
people aboard escaped injury, officials said Wednesday.

The accident occurred late Tuesday as the Airbus 320, en route from
Calcutta to Yangon, landed with a thud at Yangon's international
airport.

Passengers complained of shoddy treatment after they evacuated the plane
by emergency chutes into mud and stormy weather.

A Calcutta man who gave his name as Dutta, 50, said the plane swerved
before landing heavily. The plane's lights went out as it came to a
halt.

``There was shouting but no panic,'' said the man, a bank employee
traveling to Singapore with his wife and two daughters. ``I went through
the emergency chute and landed knee deep in mud. It was raining very
hard, and it was very windy.''

A Yangon airport official, who requested anonymity, said the cause of
the accident appeared to be bad weather. The plane's undercarriage was
damaged and it could not take off again.

Yangon airport was closed to major international flights early
Wednesday, but domestic services and international services using
smaller airplanes were still operating, the official said.

A spokesman for Indian Airlines in New Delhi, who also declined to be
named, confirmed that all 83 passengers and nine crew were unhurt. Over
40 of the passengers bound from Calcutta to Singapore would depart
Yangon on the first available flight, the spokesman said.

It was not clear when the transit passengers - those who were flying
through Yangon en route to other destinations - would be able to fly
out. They were eventually booked into an airport hotel.

Sean Lee, a Singapore-based spokesman for plane manufacturer Airbus
Industrie, said the company was sending a team from its headquarters in
Toulouse, France, to assess the damage. 
 

 




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