Aviation authorities in Japan and South Korea have launched an investigation after an Asiana Airways aircraft struck a communications tower as it came in to land in Hiroshima, leaving dozens of passengers with minor injuries.
The accident on Tuesday night bore similarities to a more serious accident involving the South Korean carrier in July 2013 that was blamed on pilot error.
Aerial footage released on Wednesday showed damage to the communications facility – a gate-like structure located some distance from the runway – at the airport in western Japan.
At least one large fragment of the tower, which sends signals to incoming planes, had broken off and come to rest on the tarmac, and wheel marks were visible on a grassy area in front of the runway. The tower’s antenna was stuck in one of the plane’s wheels, reports said.
Several hundred metres away, skid marks showed the Airbus A320 had careered off the runway and rotated more than 90 degrees before coming to a halt on a grass embankment.
Airport officials said the plane’s tail had touched the runway while landing, while its left wing and engine were also damaged.
Passengers aboard flight OZ162, which had begun its journey in Incheon, near Seoul, said panic had broken out in the cabin as the plane came in to land at about 8pm local time on Tuesday.
“There was smoke coming out and some of the oxygen masks fell down,” an unidentified female passenger told Japanese TV. “Cabin attendants were in such a panic and I thought we were going to die.”
Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted another passenger as saying that the plane had bounced when it touched down, then skidded off the runway and stopped on the grass.
Another described seeing flames in the engine. The public broadcaster NHK quoted a passenger as saying smoke entered the cabin before the evacuation.
All 73 passengers and eight crew evacuated using escape chutes; 27 people, including two crew, sustained minor injuries, according to Japanese authorities. The airline, however, said 18 passengers had been hurt.
“We could … hear people shout ‘Hurry up before the plane explodes’. But the doors open and we swiftly got out and slid to the ground and felt a sense of relief. We thought it would explode so we were running away from the airplane,” a passenger told Japanese media.
An aviation safety official at the Japanese transport ministry said investigators had been sent to the scene to try to determine the cause of the accident.
Asiana Airways, meanwhile, said in a statement that it would work closely with aviation authorities. It added: “Asiana Airlines apologises for causing concern to the passengers and the people over the accident. [We] have immediately set up a response team to cope with the aftermath.”
An Asiana Airways Boeing 777 crashed two years ago after its tail clipped a seawall as it was coming in to the land at San Francisco’s airport, killing three teenagers and injuring 182 other passengers.
The South Korean transport ministry ordered a 45-day suspension of the airline’s service to San Francisco as a penalty.
