Passenger jet veers off runway at Yakutsk airport, no one hurt

A Domodedovo Airlines Ilyushin Il-96 passenger jet ran 15 meters off the runway of Yakutsk airport at takeoff on Wednesday evening and got stuck.

Viktor Zagudayev, senior air traffic safety official in Yakutia, told Interfax on Thursday that there were no passengers aboard. All eight crewmembers and four engineers aboard were evacuated.

The aircraft was supposed to fly to Moscow for engine repair.

A commission of state aviation oversight authorities and Domodedovo Airlines is probing the incident.

Asymmetrical thrust from the plane's three working engines may have caused the incident, according to preliminary information. The Il-96 is a four-engine plane.

The runway was closed until the removal of the aircraft, Zagudayev said.

The press service of the Far Eastern regional center of the Emergency Situations' Ministry told Interfax that airport personnel had to remove the plane's fuel and place a concrete slab under the wheels in order to pull the plane back onto the runway.

Rescue workers were not involved in the evacuation effort.

Yakutsk airport is operating without restrictions. Other runways are being used for takeoff and landing, the press service said.

// 24.08.2006

Resource: Interfax