Two workers at Hong Kong International Airport were killed early Monday after an Emirates cargo flight skidded off the runway and hit their patrol vehicle.
According to a report from Reuters, the Emirates 747 was arriving from Dubai around 4 a.m. local time when it veered off the runway, crashed through a perimeter fence, and hit the patrol vehicle, pushing it into the sea surrounding the airport. Both staff members inside the vehicle died, the airport’s operator said.
The Emirates aircraft also fell into the water and was partially submerged, but all four crew members escaped. The airline confirmed that the crew members were safe and no cargo was on board the flight.
The aircraft involved in the accident was leased from and operated by Turkish carrier Air ACT.
Authorities in Hong Kong are investigating the cause of the crash.
The runway where the accident occurred is closed, but two other runways are open and operating as normal. Several cargo flights scheduled to land at Hong Kong International Airport on Monday were canceled.
Steven Yiu, the airport’s executive director of operations, told the BBC that the 747 made an unexpected turn away from the runway and toward the sea while landing. He said the two airport workers were driving on a road outside the closed-off runway area and “definitely did not run out onto the runway.”
The flight’s crew did not send out a distress signal prior to or during the botched landing, Yiu added.
Authorities said they are still looking for the aircraft’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which apparently fell into the water.
