By Jasmine Stole Weiss
Pacific Daily News
September 28, 2018
Four people were seriously injured after a flight from Pohnpei crashed into a lagoon while attempting to land at the airport in Weno, Chuuk, Friday morning, according to officials and witnesses.
The Federated States of Micronesia government issued a flyer Friday, reporting a missing man, but it is unclear if that person was a passenger on the flight.
Airport officials saw the Air Niugini plane ended up in the lagoon around 9:30 a.m., said Jimmy Emilio, Chuuk airport manager.
Passengers and crew were at the hospital undergoing checkups, Emilio said Friday morning. No deaths or serious injuries were immediately reported, Emilio said.
Eight people were hospitalized as of 4 p.m., according to Chuuk State Hospital Chief Nurse Irene Nero. Nero said all the patients are males and four of them will need to be evacuated because of head injuries, spinal cord injuries and hip fractures.
As of 4 p.m. Friday, there were no fatalities, Nero said.
Witness Matthew Colson, a missionary living in Chuuk who also runs a radio station, said people were being treated for injuries, some serious. There were reports of people with broken legs and at least one person with a broken arm Colson said after visiting the local hospital.
Plane sinks after all safe on shore
It was unclear what had caused the crash, Emilio said.
"Somebody has to look into that and let us know," Emilio said. "So far, we don't know why they went down."
Within an hour of the crash, the plane sank in the lagoon, but not before all aboard were safely on shore, Colson and other witnesses said.
Colson spoke to a passenger, Bill Jaynes, shortly after the crash.
Jaynes, managing editor of The Kaselehlie Press, a Pohnpei-based newspaper that covers the Federated States of Micronesia, was on the flight and told Colson he suffered minor injuries.
Some passengers suffered more severe injuries, he said on a video recorded by Colson.
'We came in low,' passenger says
Jaynes said he believed that the plane hit a retaining wall and bounced back, landing in the lagoon.
"It's just surreal. I thought we landed hard until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water was coming in, and I thought, well, this is not like the way it's supposed to happen," he said.
"We came in low, we came in very low. Unfortunately, the flight attendants panicked, and started yelling, and I was trying to be calm and help as best as I could," Jaynes said.
Jaynes said he was told the plane hit the end of the runway.
"That's the only scenario I can imagine. But we ended up back away from the end of the retaining wall," he said.
The plane was attempting to land on runway 4, the airport manager said. Instead, it crashed in the lagoon and ended up about 160 yards from the runway, Emilio said.
Colson said it was raining at the time of the crash.
“We’ll have to wait for the investigation to be completed, but they probably didn’t stop fast enough and landed over the edge and in the water,” Colson said.
Air Niugini released a statement on the crash and said the weather was poor with heavy rain and reduced visibility at the time of the incident. The incident happened at 10:10 a.m., according to the airline.
Victor Harold Wasson, a passenger on the flight, described the moments before the plane landed as chaos.
The flight attendants were panicking too, he said. “Instead of calmly telling passengers to (get into) a single file, their yelling made a lot of people panic, who started climbing over seats to get to the exit blocking some others in the process," Wasson said.
Wasson said he asked the flight attendants more than five times for a life jacket because he couldn’t find one under his seat or other seats in his aisle. “But they just ignored (me) as they were panicking themselves,” he said. “They screamed out, ‘Brace for impact,’ but we hit something before they could even complete their sentence properly.”
Wasson said he intends to file a claim with the airline for the items he lost on the sunken plane and give feedback to management about what he witnessed during the incident.
Wasson was heading to Fiji, transiting through Chuuk and Port Moresby, he said.
Wasson also said he plans on heading out on the flight that will be leaving Chuuk on Saturday.
Locals spring into action
The water was waist-deep inside the aircraft but passengers were able to get out, Jaynes said. Then, people in boats came to the rescue.
"I was really impressed with the locals who immediately started coming out in boats. One would think that they might be afraid to approach a plane that's just crashed," Jaynes said. "I was really impressed with the whole response. It's obvious the FAA training really paid off here."
Colson said many locals were gathered at a market near the airport. As soon as the plane hit the water, people sprung into action to help.
“They’re people that come here to go to work or go to the store or bring fish to the market to sell, and they just jumped in their boats and started helping,” Colson said.
Locals rushed out on fishing boats to shuttle people from the plane to shore, he said.
U.S. Navy Seabees in Chuuk for a construction project also helped transport people to shore, Colson added.
The U.S. Navy said sailors helped shuttle passengers and crew using an inflatable boat.
Local authorities then closed off the road as passengers got transported to the hospital, Colson said.
Colson, a Chuuk resident since 1997, and he doesn't know of any other instances in which a plane went off the the Weno runway and sunk.
'Plenty of boats' helped
Melba Aisek, general manager of the Truk Stop Hotel and lifelong Chuuk resident, said she didn’t see the crash itself, but saw the plane in the lagoon.
“We can see the plane from our dock. So, from the dock, I could see there were plenty of boats heading that way," Aisek said in an email. "We ourselves, Truk Stop, sent out our dive boat to assist, but returned as there was already a good crowd of people already helping transport folks to the (runway),” Aisek said.
“Very lucky that this happened during the day and (they) got good help from passersby.”
The Boeing 737 aircraft had been expected to land at 9:26 a.m., according to Jeff Pamittan, accountant for the Air Niuguini office in Chuuk.
The airline's flight schedule online states a Boeing 737 flight from Pohnpei was scheduled to arrive in Chuuk at 8:55 a.m., and was scheduled to leave Chuuk at 9:45 a.m. for Papua New Guinea.
"Air Niugini is now positioning assistance to Chuuk for our passengers and crew. We are also in touch with the embassies, passenger representatives, stakeholders and families of the crew. We thank everyone in Chuuk for the assistance provided today," the airline said in their statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, crew and their families at this time."
The airline scheduled a special flight to take airline management to Chuuk Saturday morning, according to a statement. A company doctor will be on that flight to assist with treatment of injured passengers.
Air Niugini is also arranging for hotel accommodations for 27 passengers and crew members and take passengers who wish to complete their trip to Port Moresby.
Conflicting passenger counts
Officials provided conflicting information on the number of people aboard the plane. Emilio, the Chuuk airport manager, said 36 passengers and 11 crew members were aboard.
Pamittan said the plane was carrying 35 passengers and 12 crew members.
The airline also said there were 35 passengers and 12 crew members.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor, citing preliminary reports, said 46 people were onboard Air Nuigini Flight 37, including 11 crew members.
The airline started twice weekly air services between Port Moresby and the FSM in December 2016, according to its website.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Later reports say the missing man was a passenger.
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