The two planes
Photo: Ella Avner
German plane collides with Israeli plane prior to takeoff
Just minutes before takeoff, a plane owned by the Germania airline collides at Ben-Gurion Airport with an El Al passenger plane, causing severe damage to their tails; no passenger was hurt.
A Germania airline Boeing 737, set to take off for Berlin, collided Wednesday morning at Ben-Gurion Airport with an El Al plane that was supposed to take off for Rome just minutes later.
There were no casualties and all passengers were safely taken back to the terminal.
(Photo: Ella Avner)
The German airplane suffered severe damage to its vertical stabilizer, which was almost completely cleaved off by the Israeli plane's horizontal stabilizer.
Ofer Lefler, spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, said "the incident is under investigation and further details will be given later."
(Photo: Lior Grundman)
The chief accident investigator at the Transportation Ministry launched an investigation into the incident.
The person responsible for the incident is apparently the driver of the tow truck that took the German company's plane from the terminal towards the route.
