A Boeing plane’s tyre burst during landing in Turkey today, the third passenger aircraft built by the manufacturing giant to suffer a technical problem or crash in just two days.
A total of 190 people were evacuated from the aircraft after the Boeing 737-800, belonging to Turkey-based Corendon Airlines, stopped on the runway after landing at Gazipasa airport near the Mediterranean coastal town of Alanya.
Pictures from the scene today showed the stationary aircraft on the tarmac flanked by emergency vehicles – its front wheels and landing gear crumpled underneath. Corendon Airlines denied Turkish reports that the aircraft had landed on its nose.
While none of the 184 passengers and six crew members on the flight from Cologne, Germany to Turkey were injured, the dramatic landing was just the latest in a string of hair-raising incidents involving Boeing planes over the last two days.
On Wednesday, a Boeing 767 cargo plane operated by FedEx made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport after its front landing gear failed. Dramatic video showed the nose of the plane skidding across the runway as it came to a halt.
And just this morning, shocking footage emerged showing the moment terrified passengers fled a burning Boeing 737-300 jet carrying 78 passengers that skidded off the runway and caught fire during take-off in Senegal.
There is no suggestion Boeing are to blame for the crashes, and the cause of the Senegal crash is not yet known.
But the incidents will only compound woes for the company which is already facing intense scrutiny amid a string of mishaps and controversy over safety concerns – as well as the deaths of two whistleblowers just two months apart.