A Lion Air Boeing 737-800 passenger plane has crash landed off the Indonesian island of Bali after failing to reach its runway and landing in the sea.
However, all 101 passengers on board the Lion Air plane miraculously survived the accident which happened early this morning.
The aircraft was about to land in Bali Ngurah Rai Airport but it probably failed to reach the runway and fell into the sea.
TV footage shows the Boeing passenger jet sitting in shallow waters, between 200 and 300 meters off the end of the runway.
An official with Bali’s search and rescue agency said 22 people were taken to three different hospitals with various injuries.
‘The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water,’ said a passenger who sustained head wounds in the crash.
All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door.
‘I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me.’
A deep rupture can be seen running through the back-end of the plane’s fuselage havin missed the runway at the airport near Denparsar.
Survivors could be seen sitting on rocks next to the wreckage of the plane as rescue workers in rubber dinghies took people to safety.
Bali police chief Arif Wahyunadi said: ‘All passengers and crew have been taken off the aircraft as it lies in the sea.
The cause of the accident remains unclear, with Wahyunadi confirming the plane had earlier departed from the city of Bandung in Indonesia.
An official at Bali’s international airport said: ‘We believe all the passengers and crew are safe. They are currently being attended to by medical staff, police and airline officials.
‘We will know what happened later but it appears the aircraft overshot the runway. Fortunately it has come down in shallow water.’
Lion Air is a leading budget air carrier in Indonesia and has recently signed record contracts with both of the world’s leading planemakers, Boeing and Airbus.
Indonesia has been struggling to improve its civil air safety after a string of deadly accidents.
In 2007, Lion was among a number of Indonesian airlines banned by the EU for lax safety standards. The ban was progressively lifted, starting in 2009.
