Passengers were forced to swim for their lives when an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing the runway on a remote Pacific island and immediately began sinking.
The Air Niugini Boeing 737 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half-submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident this morning at about 9.30am local time.
Pictures and video posted on social media showed locals scrambling in small boats to rescue the passengers and crew as waters covered most of the aircraft's fuselage.
The airline said the plane, which was making a scheduled stop on its way from the Micronesian capital Pohnpei to Port Moresby, had "landed short of the runway".
Remarkably, it said there were no fatalities among the 47 people on board the aircraft.
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"Air Niugini can confirm that all on board were able to safely evacuate the aircraft," the firm said in a brief statement.
The general manager of the airport said the plane hit the water 150 yards short of the runway.
"People were rescued by boats - 36 passengers and 11 crew were all rescued," he said.
The passengers and crew were taken to hospital, where eight remained, four in a serious condition with bone fractures and other injuries, according to a hospital spokesman.
"I thought we landed hard until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water was coming in," passenger Bill Jaynes told the Pacific Daily News website.
Water was waist-deep in the cabin before rescuers arrived, he said.
Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission said it was preparing to send investigators to the accident site.
Locals scrambled into small boats to rescue the passengers and crew of the Air Niugini Boeing 737. Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea's national airline pic.twitter.com/BdnLA2Looc
— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 28, 2018
Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea's national airline.
In 2013, all 101 passengers aboard a Lion Air flight that overshot the runway at Denpasar in Indonesia and landed in shallow water were similarly rescued by boats without casualties.
