Workers aim to clear wreckage from a cargo plane that veered off the runway and fell into the sea on Monday, killing two people, within a week, the Hong Kong Airport Authority (AA) has said.
Speaking on a Now TV show on Tuesday morning, the AA’s executive director of airport operations, Steven Yiu, said that repair work on the north runway, where the crash happened, had been completed.
“Our goal is to remove the wreckage within a week, but it will depend on the weather and where the crane barge can be positioned for the lift,” Yiu said in Cantonese.
Hours later, the AA released a statement, saying that the north runway was reopened at around 4.20pm. “As the aircraft remains in the waters adjacent to the runway, the North Runway will be temporarily on standby mode, so as to facilitate the removal operation,” it also said.
The cargo plane collided with a stationary patrol vehicle as it veered off the runway at Hong Kong International Airport in the early hours of Monday.
Both the cargo plane and the patrol vehicle fell into the sea. Four crew members on board the aircraft were evacuated via an emergency slide and sent to hospital. However, both ground staff members were later confirmed dead.
One ground worker was certified dead at sea, and another at the hospital. They had been working at the airport for seven and 12 years, respectively.
The Boeing 747-481, en route from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, was operated by Turkish carrier Air ACT.
Yiu said on Tuesday that the Airport Authority had already contacted Air ACT. The airline “cannot escape responsibility,” he said, but to speed things up, the Airport Authority had directly contacted a marine salvage company to handle the debris.
“The [airline] is registered in Turkey. If we wait for them… [we] don’t know how long that would take,” he added.
The Air Accident Investigation Authority, an investigative body under the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB), has launched a probe into the accident.
The airport’s control tower did not receive any distress signal from the aircraft before it crashed into the sea, Man Ka-chai, chief accident and safety investigator of the authority, said on Monday.
