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Garuda flight makes emergency landing after sustaining unconfirmed lighting strike
Garuda flight GA 698 departing from Manokwari, Papua, was forced to land at Frans Kaisiepo Airport Monday n Biak after sustaining damage to the wing, likely caused by a strike of lightning
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aruda flight GA 698 departing from Manokwari, Papua, was forced to land at Frans Kaisiepo Airport Monday n Biak after sustaining damage to the wing, likely caused by a strike of lightning.
'Today, there were two Garuda flights bound for Jayapura via Biak. One flight arrived safely at Sentani Airport, Jayapura, while the other one is still undergoing technical examination in Biak,' Sentani Airport head Herson told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He said the Garuda flight was forced to land in Biak due to technical problems and technicians at the airport later found black smoke emanating from the aircraft's left wing, requiring additional examinations.
'We have contacted Garuda officers and explained to them that our technicians are looking into the black smoke [coming] from the aircraft. It is suspected that the flight was struck by lightning,' said Herson.
He said bad weather had blanketed parts of areas in Papua since Monday morning but that it had not disrupted flights from Sentani Airport.
'We received information that the plane was struck by lightning and could not continue to Jayapura. The airline company postponed the flight and will fly the passengers using another plane tomorrow [Tuesday],' said Deny, one of the Garuda passengers. (ebf)(+++)
