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Plane skids off Turkish runway, stopping feet from plunging into Black Sea

By Danielle Haynes
A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 passenger plane sits on a cliff after going off the runway at Trabzon Airport in Turkey on Sunday. File Photo by STR/EPA-EFE
A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 passenger plane sits on a cliff after going off the runway at Trabzon Airport in Turkey on Sunday. File Photo by STR/EPA-EFE

Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runway in Turkey on Sunday, coming to a stop on a steep slope before nearly plunging into the Black Sea, local officials said.

The airline said no one was injured or killed of the 162 passengers and crews on board Flight PC 8622. The plane landed at Trabzon Airport in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey after taking off from Ankara on Saturday.

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The nose of the plane stopped feet away from the sea.

Trabzon province Gov. Yucel Yavuz said the cause of the incident was unknown.

"All the passengers were evacuated. Their relatives came and took the passengers. Vehicles were provided to those who did not have cars. After the airplane landed, before it maneuvered, it slipped and then veered off the runway. There are no injuries. There are some passengers who have gone to hospitals for precautionary purposes," he said.

Officials closed Trabzon Airport and used special forces units to unload the passengers and their luggage from the plane.

One passenger, Fatma Gordu, told Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News she could smell fuel "everywhere."

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"We thought a fire would erupt; we were afraid of that. There were pregnant women and children. We did not sleep. I felt the plane crash. People were saying things when they panicked, but no one understood anything. We were told to leave from the back door, but everyone was busy trying to get past each other," she said.

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