November 29, 2024

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Korean Air flight KE631, partly ripped away, blocks the single runway of the Cebu International Airport. (Twitter)

A Korean Air plane overran a runway at the Cebu International Airport in the Philippines while attempting to land in poor weather late Sunday. No injuries were reported. The flight had 162 passengers and 11 crew onboard.

Korean Air flight KE631, which had departed from Incheon to Cebu, had attempted to land twice in poor weather, and on the third attempt overran the runway, according to the South Korean air carrier while delivering an apology.

“We sincerely apologize to our passengers and their families for causing trouble. We will do our best in cooperating with the local aviation authorities and Korean authorities for a thorough investigation to determine the cause of this event,” said Korean Air President Woo Kee-hong in a statement hours after the accident.

Local authorities presume that the aircraft’s brake system malfunctioned as the aircraft could not sufficiently reduce its speed after landing and ended up 250 meters beyond the runway.

The pilot testified that a warning alert of the brake system had turned on when landing.

Passengers were safely evacuated from the aircraft and were escorted to local hotels.

The Cebu International Airport was expected to be closed until midnight Monday local time, or 1 a.m. Tuesday by Korean time, due to the aircraft blocking the single runway of the airport, also affecting the schedule of other Korean budget carriers' flights bound for Cebu.

By Hong Yoo (yoohong@heraldcorp.com)