Emergency landing: El Al plane lands safely
Tense moments at airport: El Al flight makes emergency landing following technical malfunction; more than 100 emergency vehicles deploy at Ben Gurion Airport. Plane dumps fuel at sea ahead of landing, all 270 passengers aboard safe
Emergency forces deployed at the airport en masse after a malfunction was discovered in the plane’s wheels a short while after it took off for Newark.
All 270 passengers aboard the plane are safe.
Upon discovering the malfunction, the plane’s pilots informed the control tower of the situation and prepared for an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport. The jet’s fuel was dumped at sea ahead of the landing.
A passenger who was heading to Brooklyn told Ynet that the atmosphere on board the plane was “scary.”
“The crew treated us well…they offered us food but nobody felt like eating because of the tension,” he said. “Passengers on board the plane were crossing their fingers, and some of us also read Psalms. When we landed, every single person was clapping with a huge sense of relief.”
'Unprecedented deployment'
A spokesman for Magen David Adom ambulance service announced that more than 70 ambulances were deployed at the airport, including Intensive Care vehicles. Dozens of fire trucks also rushed to the site and deployed by the runway.
MDA Director Eli Bin said that some ambulances were brought in from a special warehouse in central Israel, characterizing the operation as an “unprecedented deployment.”
“We were prepared to provide an initial response to all passengers had the incident ended differently, heaven forbid,” he said.
The emergency situation declared at Ben Gurion Airport was called off following the plane’s safe landing, ending the massive deployment of emergency forces at the site.
According to an initial review, officials at the airport closely followed the emergency procedures adopted during a drill simulating an emergency landing in November of last year.
Meanwhile, El al was preparing to fly the 270 passengers in another plane, expected to depart to Newark in the coming hours. The malfunctioning plane was taken to El Al facilities for tests.
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