Photo: Serbian Dnevnik
Feb 19, 2024. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Belgrade, Serbia.
A passenger
jet with 106 people on board returned safely to the Belgrade airport after it
hit runway equipment and sustained severe damage shortly after takeoff from the
Serbian capital, media and airline blogs reported Monday. There were no
injuries.
The Embraer E-195 was on route to Dusseldorf in Germany on Sunday afternoon. The aircraft belongs to Greek charter company Marathon Airlines, which is currently operating several aircraft on behalf of Serbian national carrier, AirSerbia, on long-term basis.
Live
tracker Flightradar24 said the flight JU324 lined up at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla
Airport on one of the intersecting taxiways more than halfway down the runway,
indicating it did not have enough distance for a safe takeoff.
During its
departure, the aircraft’s left side was badly damaged when it struck the
opposing runway’s instrument landing system array, located not far from a busy
highway.
Video
footage and photos of the damaged aircraft show a large gaping hole and tear on
the fuselage at the base of the left wing. The tail section was also damaged.
Firefighters sprayed the fuselage with foam as fuel appeared to be leaking from
the damaged aircraft.
After
struggling to gain height, the aircraft shook as it entered a holding pattern
for about an hour before returning to land safely at the Belgrade airport,
Serbian media said, quoting passengers. The passengers were escorted off the
aircraft. They were told by AirSerbia that the flight returned because of
technical reasons and that their lives were never in danger.
The airport
was closed for a while on Sunday and incoming planes were diverted to other
airports.
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