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Micronesia plane crash: Video shows inside of waterlogged flight

'One of the passengers on the flight was, and still is, unaccounted for,' says airline chairman

Zamira Rahim
Monday 01 October 2018 11:09 BST
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US Navy footage of rescue efforts inside Micronesia plane crash

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Dramatic footage has emerged from inside a waterlogged plane which crash-landed in a lagoon in the Pacific state of Micronesia on 28 September.

The Boeing 737 passenger jet, operated by Papua New Guinea's state airline Air Niugini, hit the water short of the runway while attempting to land at Chuuk Island.

A video released by the US Navy shows a rescue team rushing to the plane in a small boat.

The team wade into the inside of the waterlogged cabin and then check on the passengers being transferred to rescue boats outside the sunken flight.

"They got everybody," one rescuer can be heard saying. "There's one injured guy."

An earlier video from the scene showed 47 passengers and crew being rescued from the half submerged flight.

One passenger remains unaccounted for, although the airline said that he was safely evacuated from the site.

“It was of great concern to learn yesterday that one of the passengers on the flight was, and still is, unaccounted for” Air Niugini's chariman, Sir Kostas Constantinou​ said in a statement.

“Subsequently however, an inspection of the entire submerged cabin of the aircraft by the US Navy seals, further corroborated by other eyewitness reports who saw the passenger board one of the dinghies on Friday, has confirmed that all passengers safely evacuated the aircraft at the time of the accident."

"Local authorities and the airline are continuing to search for the whereabouts of the missing passenger”.

Four other passengers are in a stable condition in hospital, according to a statement from Air Niugini.

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