53 others in hospital after plane shoots runway at Yichun airport
53 others in hospital after plane shoots runway at Yichun airportA Chinese passenger plane overshot a runway and burst into flames while attempting to land yesterday in China's northeast, killing 43 people on board, state media reported.
The plane crashed while trying to touch down in the city of Yichun in remote Heilongjiang province.
Hua Jingwei, an Communist Party official in Yichun, said that 43 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage and 53 survivors were taken to hospital for treatment.
The plane had 91 passengers, including five children, and five crew on board, reports said, citing a source at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The aircraft was an E-190 jet, a passenger aircraft manufactured by Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer, operated by Henan Airlines, a carrier based in the northern Chinese province of the same name.
The crash occurred shortly after 9:30 pm (1330 GMT) near Yichun's Lindu airport, less than an hour after the plane took off from Harbin, the provincial capital.
The vice mayor of Yichun told media that most of those taken to hospital did not have life-threatening injuries, Xinhua said.
A 20-strong group of CAAC technicians and officials was sent to the crash site and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang is to lead a team of transport, safety and security officials to deal with the aftermath, Xinhua said.
| Air crash fatalities |
| China's last fatal airline accident occurred in November 2004, when a China Eastern commuter jet took off in frigid Inner Mongolia without de-icing and crashed shortly afterward into a nearby park, killing 55 people. |
