Singapore Airlines plane veers off Yangon runway, no injuries

A Singapore Airlines plane AFP FILE PHOTO

SINGAPORE—A Singapore Airlines plane skidded off the runway on touching down during heavy rain at Myanmar’s Yangon International Airport, but no injuries were reported, the carrier said Thursday.

The Airbus A330 plane “encountered heavy rain and veered slightly off the runway on landing” at 10:05 am Yangon time (0335 GMT) Wednesday, before it was steered safely back, the airline said.

“The aircraft was towed to the gate and customers disembarked normally,” the airline said in a statement, adding that a replacement plane was sent to Yangon for the return flight.

The plane, flight SQ998 on a daily route to Myanmar, was carrying 265 passengers and crew, the airline told AFP.

“It was the hardest landing I’ve ever experienced,” Singapore Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who was on board the aircraft, said in a Facebook post.

“Which is why we should follow instructions and be properly strapped in. The SIA crew was very professional and reassuring despite the situation,” said Tan, who was in Myanmar to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian labor ministers.

It was the latest incident involving an SIA plane this year.

On May 9, a SIA Airbus A380 superjumbo en route to Hong Kong was forced to turn back to Singapore after pilots received a warning about a problem with a cargo door.

In January, one of the airline’s A380 fleet was forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan after suffering a drop in cabin pressure.

The flag-carrier subsequently said its investigation into the incident focused on a main deck door that appeared to have suffered a leak.

Singapore Airlines has 19 A380s with five others on order, operating on routes from Singapore to various destinations including Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London and Los Angeles.

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