Riyadh: The pilot and co-pilot of a Cessna airplane were slightly hurt on Wednesday evening when they crashed short of a runway in the Saudi capital, a civil aviation spokesman said.
The pilot, an American, radioed that he needed to make an emergency landing because he had run out of fuel, Khalid Al Khaibari, spokesman for the General Authority of Civil Aviation, said.
They had flown from Egypt to King Khalid International Airport, and their small plane came down about two kilometres from the runway, Al Khaibari said.
“The pilot and the co-pilot were injured. I think lightly injured,” he said, adding that Saudi authorities are investigating.
In a photograph published on the website of Al Riyadh newspaper, the aircraft appeared largely undamaged except for the right wing, which came to rest against a mound of dirt in a scrubby area.
The official Saudi Press Agency said the Cessna 340 was travelling from Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Al Ghardaga, news agency AFP was reporting. According to Saudi news sites Sabq and Al Riyadh, however, its final destination was Malaysia.
