Multiple people are in life-threatening condition after a Boeing 737-300 airplane crashed during takeoff at Senegal's Blaise Diagne International Airport on Thursday morning, officials said.
Eleven people were injured, with four in critical condition. The plane was carrying 78 people, including two pilots and four cabin staff members when it crashed, ABC News reports.
Senegal's Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Air Transport said in a statement that Air Senegal flight HC301, which is operated by Transair, “overran the runway” around 1:14 am on Thursday.
Videos that surfaced on the internet seemed to show a Transair aircraft bearing the serial number 6V-AJE resting on a bank of grass. There appeared to be damage to the plane's left engine, and Aqueous Film Forming Foam seemed to have blanketed the area along the runway.
The Blaise Diagne airport is located in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The flight was headed to Bamako, Mali.
Following the crash, the airport was closed for a number of hours.
The incident is still under investigation and the events leading up to the crash remain unclear.
This comes after the airline industry has been heavily scrutinized over the past several months, specifically the airline manufacturer Boeing. A viral incident in the US showed a panel flying off the plane during mid flight, which resulted in the grounding of all 737 Max 9s.
Since the incident, two Boeing whistleblowers have been found dead by alleged suicide.
