An Air Niugini plane crashed into the water near Chuuk International Airport on the island of Weno in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia, on Friday, September 28.
Chuuk airport manager Jimmy Emilio told Pacific Daily News that all 36 passengers and 11 crew members were safe after the plane slid into the lagoon after a failed attempt to land at the airport.
Eyewitness footage shows the plane in the lagoon near the airport runway.
This video shows an interview with Micronesia-based journalist Bill Jaynes, who said he was a survivor of the crash.
In this clip, he tells Chuuk-based Baptist missionary Matthew Colson that he and his fellow passengers managed to flee the crashed aircraft before being rescued by locals in boats.
“It’s just surreal,” he’s said. “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 the way it’s supposed to happen’. 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 I could. I called my wife and she cried. I asked her why because I was talking to her. Fortunately my injury was just a head injury but there were some pretty severe ones, but no deaths.”
Commenting on the response by his rescuers, he said: “One would think they would be afraid to approach a plane that had crashed. They were awesome. I was really impressed with the whole response.” Credit: Matthew Colson via Storyful
