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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The airline operating an aircraft that crashed Friday in a Pacific lagoon in Micronesia announced that a man was missing the call after declaring earlier that the 47 passengers and crew members had safely evacuated the plane sinking.
Air Niugini said in a statement that Saturday afternoon she could not take into account a passenger. The airline said it was working with local authorities, hospitals and investigators to try to locate this man.
The airline did not immediately respond to requests for additional information about the passenger, such as his age or his nationality.
Local boats helped rescue the other passengers and crew members after the plane hit the water while he was trying to land at the airport. Chuuk.
Officials said Friday that seven people were taken to the hospital. The airline said six passengers remained at the hospital on Saturday and that they were all in stable condition.
The cause of the crash and the exact sequence of events remain unclear. The airline and the US Navy both said that the plane had landed in the lagoon before the runway. Some witnesses thought that the plane was over the track.
Passenger Bill Jaynes said the plane was very low.
"I thought we had landed hard," he said. "Until I look over and I see a hole in the side of the plane and that water comes in. And I thought, well, what It's not so that's supposed to happen. "
Jaynes said that he and others had managed to make their way through the water to the emergency exit of the plane sinking. He stated that the flight attendants panicked and shouted and that he had been slightly injured in the head.
"I was really impressed by the locals who immediately started landing in boats," said Jaynes in an interview with a Chuuk missionary, Matthew Colson, who was posted online and shared with him. ; AP.
The US Navy said that sailors working nearby to upgrade a dock had also participated in the rescue using an inflatable boat to haul passengers ashore before the plane sank in about 30 meters of water .
Air Niugini is the national airline of Papua New Guinea operating since 1973. According to data from the aviation security network, 111 people died in air strikes with airlines registered in Papua New Guinea. Guinea in the last two decades.
