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Gorontalo airport closed after Lion Air plane skids off runway
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A turbine from the Lion Air plane that skidded off a runway at Djalaluddin Airport in Gorontalo on Apr. 29 is seen in a grassy area of the airport. (tribunnews.com/File)
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orontalo's Djalaludin Airport was closed for 16 hours on Sunday, following an accident in which a Lion Air plane skidded off the runway, to allow emergency crew to remove the plane from the runway.
No casualties were reported in the incident, but two people had fallen unconscious after the accident.
“While the airport remains closed, all flights to Gorontaro are being redirected to Manado, North Sulawesi,” Djalaludin Airport management head Power Sihaloho said on Sunday night as quoted by tribunnews.com.
The measure to close the airport was taken because part of the body of the ill-fated plane still lay on one side of the runway, said Power, adding that the aircraft would be cleared from the runway on Monday.
Power said he had coordinated with relevant agencies, including the airport authority in Manado and the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT).
The Lion Air management has apologized to its passengers for the accident.
Lion Air strategic corporate communications head Danang Mandala Prihantoro said the plane was being cleared, stressing that all 174 passengers and seven crew members onboard were safe.
The two passengers who had been unconscious had regained consciousness and had received medical attention, he added.
The Boeing 737-800 Lion Air airplane had taken off at 5:29 a.m. local time from Makassar's Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport and arrived at 6:35 p.m. at Djalaluddin Airport when the accident occurred, kompas.com reported on Monday. (bbn)
