Boeing plane leaves runway in Senegal, injuring 11
A Boeing plane came off the runway during takeoff in Senegal early on Thursday, injuring 11 people and forcing the international airport near the capital Dakar to close, its management said.
The B737/300 aircraft, which was a chartered Air Senegal flight, was carrying 78 passengers and headed for the Malian capital Bamako, the airport's managers LAS said in a statement.
It had been chartered with the privately owned Transair and "came off the runway during its takeoff phase" in the early hours, it said.
Eleven people were injured, four of them seriously.
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The airport at Diass, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Dakar, is closed for the moment and will reopen in the coming hours, LAS said.
The aircraft has been "immobilised" away from the runway and the emergency plan was triggered by airport authorities as soon as they were alerted, it said.
"All the airport emergency services have been mobilised for the evacuation of passengers and their care, as per the plan," LAS added.
An investigation has already been opened to establish the cause of the incident, it said.
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