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A man is missing after a plane crashed into a Pacific lagoon in Micronesia.
Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 struck water as it attempted to land at Chuuk Island Airport Micronesia Archipelago Friday.
Initially, the airline said the 47 passengers and crew managed to evacuate the plane that was flowing safely, but on Saturday afternoon he confirmed that a passenger was not found.
His age and nationality are unknown, but Air Niugini says he works with local authorities, hospitals and investigators to try to find him.
The Air Niugini aircraft flew over a runway in Micronesia and found itself in the ocean
Images of US Navy soldiers embarked on a rescue mission following the accident, using a rubber dinghy to bring the passengers to the ground before the plane sank in about 30 meters of water.
The clip shows sailors using the right wing of the plane as makeshift mooring for the boat. Rescuers entered the plane through the emergency door and some men were wearing swim shorts and goggles.
They waded into the flooded cabin up to the waters up to the waist, looking for survivors, to make sure everyone was safely out.
After making the short ride to the dinghy by carefully walking on the wing, just below the water's surface, a rescuer said, "They have everyone!"
Rescue operation in Micronesia around a crashed plane in the Pacific Lagoon
After the crash on Friday, officials announced that seven people had been transported to the hospital.
He added that six of them, all in stable condition, remained in the hospital on Saturday.
The cause of the accident and the exact sequence of events remain uncertain.
The airline and the US Navy said that the plane had landed in the lagoon before the runway.
Boats and premises come to the rescue of all passengers and the crew of a plane that crashed into a lagoon of Micronesia
Some witnesses thought that the plane was over the track.
Bill Jaynes, one of the passengers, said that the plane arrived very low.
He said, "I thought we had landed hard, until I looked up and discovered a hole in the side of the plane and that water was coming in."
"And I thought, well, that's not how it should be."
Air Niugini is the national airline of Papua New Guinea and has operated since 1973.
According to data from the aviation security network, 111 people have died in airline collisions recorded in Papua New Guinea over the past two decades, but none of them relates to Air Niugini.
