An Air Niugini plane overshot a runway in Micronesia and ended up in the oceanAn Air Niugini plane overshot a runway in Micronesia and ended up in the oceanAn Air Niugini plane overshot a runway in Micronesia and ended up in the ocean
A passenger plane has crashed into the sea after missing the runway of a tiny Pacific island – with everyone on-board surviving.
The Boeing 737-800 plane was attempting to land at Chuuk Airport on the remote island of Weno in Micronesia but ditched in a lagoon at about 9.30am local time (12.30am UK time).
Images posted online showed dozens of people on boats surrounding the wreckage as they attempted to rescue those on-board the Air Niugini plane.
All 36 passengers and 11 crew members escaped without any serious injuries, officials said.
Jimmy Emilio, general manager of Chuuk Airport, said the plane landed about 150 yards short of the runway and the cause of the crash was unclear.
“We don’t really know what happened,” he said.
“People were rescued by boats – 36 passengers and 11 crew were all rescued, only the plane is sinking right now.”
John Merelli, who works at a hotel on the island, said local people helped with the rescue effort within minutes of the crash.
Beautiful photos of miraculous escapes
‘Happy End’, by German photographer Dietmar Eckell, celebrates the miracles of the aviation world. A crash survivor himself, Eckell began to scour the internet for other plane wrecks where all the passengers survived. He focussed on 15 planes across 4 continents, many of them in isolated and inhospitable conditions, but all possessing their own eerie beauty.
Grumman Hu-16 Albatross, Mexico, 2004
This Grumman Albatross crashed on a beach 70km south of Puerto Escondido, Mexico. The locals told Eckell that the plane was used by drug traffickers.
Grumman Hu-16 Albatross, Mexico, 2004
Eckell discovered the wreck in 2010, six years after the crash. The imminent storm gave him precisely the backdrop he wanted.
Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Yukon, Canada, 1950
Caught in a downdraft, this C-47 crashed into the mountainside. The Yukon winters can see temperatures drop past -30 degrees Celsius yet the crew survived.
Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Yukon, Canada, 1950
Eckell made more than one visit to the site to get the shot exactly the way he wanted it.
Avro Shackleton, Western Sahara, 1994
The Sahara Desert combines a hostile climate with ongoing military conflict. Surviving this crash in 1994 was an astonishing feat for passengers and crew.
Avro Shackleton, Western Sahara, 1994
Eckell’s journey to this isolated spot included an ore freight train and the help of the local rebels to make the long drive out to the desert quarter where the Shackleton sits.
Douglas C-47 R4D-8, Iceland, 1973
This US Navy transport plane crashed in violent weather conditions near Vik, Iceland.
Douglas C-47 R4D-8, Iceland, 1973
The desolate landscape and black basalt sand makes the area popular with photographers and film-makers. It’s not hard to reach by land, but is a different story by sea: the Atlantic breaks on the coast with tremendous force. During the summer, there are 24 hours of daylight: this shot was taken at midnight.
Fairchild C-82A Packet, Alaska
In January, the Alaskan tundra sees temperatures drop to -45 degrees Celsius. The three passengers from this crash – caused when both engines iced over and lost power- survived by building a huge fire from the surrounding pines, which proved their salvation when a spotter plane saw its glow 3 days later.
Fairchild C-82A Packet, Alaska
The journey to and from the plane was a fast drive on ATVs. It’s not far from Beaver, a small community on the Yukon River.
Bristol Type 170 Freighter, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1956
This Bristol Type 170 broke through the frozen lake on landing, fracturing the wing, and has been there ever since. Eckell tracked it down with the GPS coordinates and persuaded a local Cessna pilot to fly him out to it.
Bristol Type 170 Freighter, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1956
The abandoned plane rots away quietly near an abandoned uranium mine: there’s nothing else nearby for miles.
Curtiss C-46 Commando, Manitoba, Canada, 1979
This Curtiss Commando made a heroic emergency landing in the hills of Manitoba, Canada. Used as transport aircraft in World War II, command crews nicknamed the C-46 the “flying coffin”.
Curtiss C-46 Commando, Manitoba, Canada, 1979
The area is a popular haunt for polar bears, making for a rather hastier shoot than Eckell would have liked.
Douglas C-47 1950, Yukon Canada
The details on this wreck are sketchy and its position in the swamp makes it tough to reach at any time except deep winter.
Douglas C-47 1950, Yukon Canada
It took two trips, including planes, ATVs and finally plain old hiking before Eckell managed to get the shots he wanted.
Curtiss C-46 Commando, Manitoba, Canada, 1977
This Curtiss Commando developed engine trouble and crashed in the forest whilst trying to return to base.
Curtiss C-46 Commando, Manitoba, Canada, 1977
The wreck took some finding, first by spotting from a light aircraft and then a trek through the thick Manitoba forest.
Vought F4U Corsair, 1948, Hawaii
This underwater wreck is not listed by the Aviation Safety Network. Local diving school operators helped Eckell to find the small fighter plane.
Vought F4U Corsair, 1948, Hawaii
Strong and erratic currents made this a challenging shoot, but it is possible to actually sit in the wreck’s cockpit. Eckell recommends you check to see if the resident moray eel is at home before try it.
Fairchild C-119, 1981, Alaska
An explosion in one engine forced the pilot to make an emergency landing on a sand bar on the Koyukuk River.
Fairchild C-119, 1981, Alaska
With only a verbal description of the wreck’s location and no GPS, it took a boat trip and some perseverance to finally track it down.
Cessna T-50, 1960s, Alaska
This Cessna T-50, also known as the ‘Bamboo Bomber’, crash-landed in Alaska after it ran out of fuel. It was the one wreck Eckell couldn’t shoot from up close: he only had time to circle it from the air.
Cessna 310, Australia, 1993
A 1500km drive through South Australia in February, where temperatures can top 50 degrees Celsius, was all it took to capture this stunning “red planet” shot with an octocopter.
B-24 Liberator, Papua New Guinea, 1943
This massive B-24 bomber crash-landed in Papua New Guinea swamp. The locals call the wreck ‘Swamp Ghost’. A long, arduous journey and a less than pleasant encounter with giant ants didn’t stop the tireless Eckell from getting the shot he wanted.
Douglas C-53 Skytrooper, Australia, 1942
The Douglas Skytrooper was forced to land after the pilot missed the airport and ran out of fuel. This cluttered transport wreck is the last shoot – to date – of the Happy End project.
All’s well that ends well
Eckell quit his job in 2010 to pursue his dream. Apart from plane wrecks, Eckell has also covered abandoned cars, Olympic sites and World War relics. You can learn more about the ongoing ‘happy end’ project, as well as Eckell’s other work, on his Facebook page. To buy a copy of Eckell’s book on the project, click here.
He told Guardian Australia: “The plane crashed and in around five minutes the rescuers were there, they were ordinary people, because there are plenty of boats around the shore.”
Air Niugini is the national airline of Papua New Guinea.
A spokesman for Papua New Guinea’s Accident Investigation Commission said investigators would fly to the scene as soon as possible to piece together what happened.
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.Plane crashes in Micronesian lagoon, passengers safe
