An AirAsia
airliner has overshot the runway at an airport in the Philippines
forcing passengers to make an urgent exit on emergency slides, it has
been claimed.
The
incident occured at Kalibo Airport in Aklan province and involved an
Airbus A320-216 carrying 153 passengers and crew from the Filipino
capital Manila.
Local
journalist Jet Damazo-Santos was on board the plane and uploaded
photographs to Twitter showing chaotic scenes as passengers were forced
to disembark the aircraft on emergency slides.
'Engine
was shut immediately, we were told to leave bags, deplane asap.
Firetruck was waiting,' she said, adding that there appeared to be no
injuries despite the plane coming to an 'abrupt stop'.
The
incident comes just hours after six bodies and wreckage were recovered
from the sea off the Indonesian coast of Borneo Island following the
disappearance of Air Asia flight 8501 on Sunday.
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Escape: Local journalist Jet
Damazo-Santos was on board the plane and uploaded photographs to Twitter
showing chaotic scenes as passengers were forced to disembark the
aircraft on emergency slides
Care: Elderly patients were pictured having their blood pressure checked in the aftermath of the incident
Describing
the terrifying incident, Ms Damazo-Santos said: 'Nobody seems to be
hurt. Weather was bad because of #senangph [sic]. Plane came to a very
abrupt stop.'
Her mention of bad weather refers to tropical storm Seniang, which has been battering the Philippines for several days.
She
updated her Twitter account with a number of photographs taken in the
aftermath of the incident, including images of elderly patients having
their blood pressure checked and shoeless members of cabin standing on
the runway, having removed their footwear to use the inflatable slide.
Ms
Damazo-Santos said that her flight had been delayed by two hours after
the poor weather at Kalibo Airport had earlier forced a plane from Cebu
Pacific airlines to turn back to Manila.
With
all passengers said to be safe, Ms Damazo-Santos said they now face a
long wait to reclaim their luggage as officials insist the plane is
towed to a parking area before it can be unloaded.
The journalist later wrote about her experience for the Filipino.
In
a statement AirAsia said: 'AirAsia Philippines confirms flight Z2 272
from Manila skidded off the Kalibo International Airport runway at
5:43PM upon landing. All 153 passengers and crew were able to disembark
safely, no injuries reported.'
'All passengers are now at a hotel assisted by AirAsia staff,' they added.
Chaotic scenes: Shoeless members of
AirAsia cabin crew stand on the runway at Kalibo Airport, having removed
their footwear to use the plane's inflatable slide
Firefighters on
the scene: The incident occured at Kalibo Airport in Aklan province and
involved an Airbus A320-216 carrying 153 passengers and crew from the
Filipino capital Manila
The
incident comes just hours after six bodies were recovered from the Java
Sea following the disappearance of AirAsia flight 8501 on Sunday. 162
people were on board the flight when it disappeared from radars 42
minutes into its flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.
Poor
weather has been suggested a likely factor in that crash after it
emerged the pilot requested to deviate from its flight plan and climb
above bad weather.
By the time permission to do so was granted, the plane had already vanished from radars.
Officials
have confirmed that bodies and debris found in Java Sea off Indonesia
are from AirAsia flight 8501, and a naval spokesman said the rescuers
remain 'very busy' retrieving the victims.
Scores
of bodies were discovered alongside luggage, a plane door and an
emergency slide floating in the water 100 miles off the coast of Borneo
Island earlier today after three days of searching.
The
recovery of six bodies came as devastated relatives of AirAsia crash
victims collapsed in grief and were taken to hospital after an
Indonesian television station showed disturbing uncensored footage of
the corpses floating in the sea.
Images
shown on a news channel showed at least one body floating in the water,
causing the victims' relatives - who were watching live reports at
crisis-centre at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya - to burst
into tears, with some fainting and requiring hospital treatment.
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