The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) of the Transport Ministry will investigate an incident in which an Angkor Air aircraft slid off the runway after landing at HCM City’s airport Saturday evening.

Lai Xuan Thanh, head of the CAAV, said the authority would speak with Angkor Air and other agencies about the incident.

At around 5:40 pm, the ATR 72 aircraft slid off the runway as it arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The aircraft, which was carrying 21 passengers from Cambodia’s Phnom Penh to HCM City, was blown off the 07R landing strip.

Experts have attributed the cause to strong crosswinds.

Airline operators ordered an emergency shutdown of the runway after the incident so that rescue procedures could be carried out.

Rescuers and fire trucks were quickly dispatched to the scene to help passengers and members of the flight crew, all of whom were unharmed.

The airplane was towed to the airport hangar for an inspection. Operations of the runway 07R resumed at 7:48pm on the same day. 

VNS