DAKAR, May 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Boeing passenger plane came off the runway during takeoff from Senegal’s Dakar international airport early Thursday, injuring 11 people and shutting the hub for hours, its operator said.
The Air Senegal flight was bound for the Malian capital Bamako and had 78 passengers on board, plus a crew of six including two pilots, airport management company LAS said in a statement.
Images taken during the night and published by local media and on social networks showed the aircraft in an overgrown area with first aiders surrounding an injured person.
Smoke and flames are also visible near the plane.
“A fire started up in one part of the plane which was then put out,” an airport official said without giving more details.
The Boeing 737/300 had been chartered from privately owned Transair, LAS said.
The jet “came off the runway during its takeoff phase” around 1:00AM, it said.
Eleven people were injured, four of them seriously. Six other passengers were taken for medical check-ups inside the airport.
“The plane, at the end of the runway, was not able to take off. The pilot chose to take it off the runway onto the land alongside,” said LAS director general Askan Demir.
“Personally I think he managed the situation well. The plane was not damaged too much.”
The transport ministry said in a separate statement that two pilots and four cabin crew were onboard.
It gave slightly different numbers saying there were 79 passengers and 10 injured, including a pilot.
“The exact circumstances of the incident remain to be determined, but an investigation is already under way to establish the reasons” why the aircraft left the runway.
“Aviation specialists along with representatives of the airline concerned are on site to examine closely the airline log data and interview crew members,” LAS said.
The transport ministry said the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis had opened an inquiry to determine the cause of the accident.
State-owned Air Senegal began operating in May 2018 after emerging from the April 2016 collapse of Senegal Airlines.
Transair, founded in 2010, is based at Blaise Diagne and serves a dozen destinations across West Africa. — NNN-AGENCIES
