The national airline of Papua New Guinea, Air Niugini, confirmed that one of its aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, crashed short of the runway while attempting to land at Chuuk International airport, Federated States of Micronesia, this morning.
The aircraft, registered as P2-PXE, was operating scheduled flight PX 073 between Pohnpei and Chuuk Airport in Micronesia when the accident occurred, at around 10:10 am FSM local time.
The airline said it has been informed that the weather was very poor with heavy rain and reduced visibility at the time of incident.
The aircraft had 35 passengers and 12 crew members onboard, all of whom were able to safely evacuate the aircraft.
Chuuk Airport | Google Maps
Air Niugini said in a statement:
“We are now positioning assistance to Chuuk for our passengers and crew. We are also in touch with the embassies, passenger representatives, stakeholders and families of the crew.”
Chuuk airport (UTC +10) weather reports around the time of the accident:
PTKK 280150Z 18010KT 13SM SCT012CB BKN120 OVC280 26/25 A2971 RMK CB ALQDS MOV N SLP062 PTKK 280051Z 18008KT 14SM SCT012CB BKN120 OVC280 27/26 A2972 RMK SHRAE20 CB ALQDS MOV N SLP066 PTKK 280002Z VRB05KT 12SM -SHRA SCT010CB BKN110 OVC280 26/25 A2973 RMK CB ALQDS PTKK 282355Z 04007KT 3SM SHRA BKN000 OVC008CB 26/25 A2973 RMK CB ALQDS MOV SW SLP071 PTKK 272340Z 04007KT 3SM SHRA BKN000 OVC008CB 26/25 A2973 RA BKN000 CB ALQDS MOV SW
Air Niugini has scheduled a special flight for company personnel tomorrow morning to take airline management to provide assistance to passengers and crew who were on flight PX 073 that crashed earlier today.