Lhe Diass international airport, near Dakar, was reopened to traffic on Thursday a few hours after a Boeing chartered by Air Senegal went off the runway, the airport manager announced. The incident, which occurred around 1:00 a.m., left 11 injured, four of them serious, and led to the closure of the airport.
Images shot during the night and published Thursday by the media and on social networks show the device immobilized in land overgrown with grass, in the presence of rescuers working in particular around an injured person. Smoke and flames are also visible near the aircraft.
“Airport operations have resumed normally,” said in a press release the manager LAS, made up of a trio including the Turkish group Limak, the AIBD (public) and Summa, another Turkish company.
The information was confirmed to AFP by a manager from the LAS communications department.
In addition to the 11 injured, six other people were admitted for observation to the airport medical services, according to the manager.
The plane, a Boeing 737/300, was carrying 78 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, according to this Source. The Ministry of Transport speaks of 79 passengers and ten injured, including a pilot, in a separate press release.
The manager further indicated that “the exact circumstances of the incident remain to be determined, but an investigation is already underway to establish the causes of the runway excursion.” “Aviation specialists, as well as representatives of the airline concerned (Air Senegal), are on site to closely examine the flight data and interview the crew members,” he added.
“The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) has opened an investigation to determine the causes of the accident,” assured the Ministry of Air Transport in its press release.
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