34 hurt as PAL plane overshoots Butuan City airport runway

By Ronron
October 26, 2007

A Philippine Airlines (PAL) plane on Friday morning overshot the runway of the Butuan City airport in Agusan del Norte province, resulting in the wounding of 34 passengers and the main pilot.

A statement of PAL said the incident happened at around 6:25 am as PAL Flight PR 475, using an Airbus A320 aircraft, was landing there coming from Manila. The flight left at 5:10 am.

The flight was carrying 138 passengers in the economy class, 10 in the business class and six crew members, including the two pilots.

Rene Soliman, PAL Corporate Communication Manager, said they are leaving to the Air Transportation Office (ATO) the determination of the cause of the overshooting.

“We leave that to the aviation authorities to declare what is the cause. It would be self-serving if we say anything. We leave it to the ATO to make that findings,” Soliman told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview.

A call with the ATO remains unanswered as of press time.

Asked how far did the plane overshoot, Soliman just said: “It’s quite some distance. I don’t have the exact length.

The incident, fortunately, did not result in more serious ones like a fire. He said only the plane’s main gear, nose, and windshield were damaged, which he described to be “quite substantial.”

After the safe evacuation of the 148 passengers from the plane, authorities learned that 34 of them were complaining of either ailment or physical discomfort.

The hurt passengers were then brought to a hospital in Butuan City for medical treatment. As of 5pm, only one remains in the hospital due to high blood pressure while “the rest were treated and released accordingly,” the PAL statement said.

The company assured that “PAL teams on the ground in Butuan continue to maintain contact with the passengers, even those without complaints, to check on their condition.”

Soliman said he has not authority to disclose to the press whether or not the passengers include a Japanese national.

The incident has led to the airport’s temporary closure yesterday for commercial air traffic “as air transport authorities decide on the facility’s capability to handle flights.”

A second PAL flight was also expected to arrive Butuan City yesterday at 12:20 pm. The airport also accommodates a flight from Cebu Pacific Airlines./DMS