A commercial plane has skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey and dangled precariously off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few metres from the sea.
Some of the 168 people on board the Boeing 737-800 described it as a "miracle" that everyone was evacuated safely.
Images show the aircraft on its belly and at an acute angle just above the water. If it had slid any further along the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the Black Sea in the Turkish province of Trabzon.
The incident on Saturday (Sunday NZ Time) created panic among the 162 passengers on board Pegasus Airlines Flight PC8622. The six-member crew, including two pilots, was also evacuated and Pegasus said there were no injuries. Flights were suspended at Trabzon Airport for several hours after the incident before resuming again on Sunday.
Passenger Yuksel Gordu told Turkey's official Anadolu news agency that words weren't enough to describe their fear.
"It's a miracle we escaped. We could have burned, exploded, flown into the sea," Gordu said. "Thank God for this. I feel like I'm going crazy when I think about it."
Another passenger, Fatma Gordu, told private Dogan news agency that there was a loud sound after landing.
"We swerved all of a sudden," she said. "The front of the plane crashed and the back was in the air. Everyone panicked."
Trabzon Governor Yucel Yavuz said investigators were trying to determine why the plane had left the runway. The prosecutor's office launched an investigation.
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Credit: stuff.co.nz
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Some 162 passengers and six crew members were on board the Boeing 737-800, which had departed the Turkish capital Ankara.
Pegasus said in a statement the aircraft had been successfully evacuated and no injuries were reported.
One of the passengers, Fatma Gordu, told Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu the crash sparked panic on board the flight. “We tilted to the side, the front was down while the plane’s rear was up. There was panic, people shouting, screaming,†she said.
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