A passenger plane skidded off the runway after landing at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport Wednesday, breaking into three pieces, killing three people and injuring dozens of others, the authorities said. At least 157 people were hospitalized, Fahrettin Koca, the minister of health, told reporters in televised remarks. No one was in critical condition, he said.
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Kerem Gun, a chief physician at one of the hospitals treating victims, told broadcaster NTV that most of the injured people had broken noses and head trauma. The plane skidded about 160 feet, then fell about 100 feet down a slope, Gov. Ali Yerlikaya of Istanbul said in a news conference from the scene.
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The plane had 177 passengers and six crew members on board, according to the governor. It was raining heavily at the time of the episode, and experts suggested that the weather was a factor in the accident. In audio released by NTV, airport officials can be heard warning pilots about strong winds.
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"According to information we obtained, a hard landing happened, and as it couldn't slow down, it left the runway," transportation minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan told CNN Turk. "A significant number of passengers left the plane on their own, and the evacuation work for the ones inside was still ongoing," he said, adding that there were two children on board. Turkish news reports said the two pilots were seriously injured.
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A spokeswoman for the airport said that it had closed and that flights were diverted to other airports. Pegasus Airlines said the plane was flying from Izmir, a city in western Turkey, and described the accident as "a runway excursion after landing." Turkish news media showed video of the plane having broken into three pieces, with a clear break near the front of the plane - the nose appeared to be detached - and a large crack in its midsection. The video showed people climbing out of the rear opening and onto one of the plane's wings.
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Other videos appeared to show flames on part of the aircraft, and rescue workers trying to get into the plane. In 2018, a Pegasus Airlines passenger plane in the northeast coastal city of Trabzon, Turkey, made a heart-stopping skid off the runway, ending up halfway down a steep slope at a perilous angle, just feet from the Black Sea. No passengers or crew members were seriously injured in that episode, officials said.
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A Pegasus spokeswoman confirmed that the narrow-body was a Boeing plane, part of a fleet that includes Airbus SE A320 aircraft. The 737-800 model, which has a good safety record, predates the 737 Max version that has been grounded worldwide since March after two fatal crashes.
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The single-aisle jet had flown from Izmir on Turkey's Aegean coast, authorities said. It appeared to have plowed down a slope from the runway and stopped short of a busy road, one of the main highways going into the city, based on photos of the aircraft. The plane was traveling at 117 kilometers an hour (72 miles an hour) near the end of the runway, according to Flightradar24.
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