Turkish Health Minister Fakhreddin announced as the face of a Turkish passenger plane crash at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul and split into three parts after landing on Wednesday and overtaking the wet runway, killing one person and wounding 157 others.
The plane, affiliated to the Turkish private low-cost Pegasus Turkish Airlines, split and flared after exiting the runway at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport located in the Asian Bank from Istanbul.
The authorities closed Sabiha airport in front of flights, and all planes were transferred to Istanbul International Airport, located on the European bank of Turkey's economic capital.
Turkish Airlines also announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Sabiha Gokcen Airport in the Asian part of Istanbul, due to the background of a passenger plane crashing while landing on the runway.
The Turkish media stated that the captains of the Turkish and South Korean aircraft were seriously wounded, and scenes broadcast by Turkish TV channels showed that the plane crashed in two places after its departure from the runway, where the front of the plane, which includes the cockpit and the first seats, was separated from the rest of the fuselage, in addition to the separation of a section from its rear It includes the last ten rows of seats and the tail.
The plane, which is a Boeing 737 and carrying 177 passengers, was subjected to strong winds and heavy rains during its flight from Izmir, on the Turkish Aegean coast, to Istanbul, and the Anatolia News Agency reported that the fire that broke out following the accident was able to control firefighters.
"The plane was unable to remain on the runway due to bad weather and it slid for about 50 to 60 meters," Istanbul Governor Ali Yerli Kaya told reporters at the airport.
Istanbul is a central point of air navigation because it is located at the intersection between Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, but the city of about 15 million people is often exposed to strong winds and heavy rains complicating the mission of the pilots.
The harsh weather conditions in the winter compel the navigational authorities to cancel flights, and the city's two international airports sometimes witness limited incidents such as airplanes leaving the runway or colliding with birds.
In 2018, a Pegasus company aircraft went off the runway in Trabzon, northeastern Turkey, and ended up hanging on the verge of a valley, and none of its passengers was hurt.