DHAKA, 3 July 2005 — Investigators have begun probing the crash landing of a DC-10 aircraft with 215 people aboard in the southern Bangladesh port city of Chittagong, officials said yesterday.
The aircraft belonging to the state-owned Biman Airlines skidded off the runway on landing and wobbled 35 meters into a field, witnesses said. All 201 passengers aboard the airliner, including a 14- member crew, escaped almost unhurt Friday.
The probe team, headed by Director of Flight Operations and Safety Habibullah Khan, was expected to evaluate the information in the aircraft’s black box and the conversation recorded between the pilot and the airport’s control tower.
Initial reports claimed the DC-10 pilot had ignored orders from the control tower not to land owing to poor visibility.
Authorities closed Chittagong airport, 270 km south of Dhaka, to all domestic and international flights for 48 hours after the incident.
The accident occurred as flight BG048 of Biman Airlines from Dubai to Chittagong landed. A witness said one of the aircraft’s engines caught fire during the descent to land.
Ten people aboard were treated for minor injuries suffered while climbing out through the emergency exit of the DC-10.
“The incident occurred as the aircraft was landing in rain. Only a wing went out of the runway and there were no casualties and not much damage,” Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, state minister for civil aviation and tourism, said in Dhaka.
