Hong Kong prepares to reopen a runway after crash though it won’t be used regularly for now

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HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong prepared Tuesday to reopen the runway where a cargo aircraft crashed and plunged into the sea the previous day, but said it would remain out of regular use until wreckage from the accident was fully cleared from the water.

The Boeing 747 flown by Turkey-based ACT Airlines flight from Dubai skidded off to the left after landing in the early hours of Monday and collided with a patrol car, causing both the aircraft and the car to plunge into the sea. Two workers in the car were killed. The four crew members on the plane had no apparent injuries.

Repairs to the runway and damaged fencing have been completed, Steven Yiu, the airport authority’s executive director for airport operations, told Radio Television Hong Kong. He added that that investigators had collected initial evidence at the scene.

The plane’s cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have not yet been retrieved, Yiu said. The aircraft was being operated under lease by Emirates, a long-haul carrier based in Dubai.

The runway would be put on standby status from noon, meaning it can be used for landings but will not be included in regular flight planning. Yiu said it would remain on standby until the wreckage is fully cleared from the sea.

Hong Kong authorities were in contact with barge companies for the cleanup but they could not begin removal work while Tropical Storm Fengshen was still affecting the city, he said. Depending on weather, wreckage removal and other work could be completed within a week, Yiu said.

Investigators were continuing to work to determine the cause of the crash. Yiu said both weather and runway conditions met standards during the incident, while mechanical and human factors were yet to be investigated.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said her bureau hoped the air accident investigation authority would release an initial probe report within a month, the bureau posted on Facebook.

Monday’s crash marked the second fatal incident for ACT Airlines. In 2017, a Boeing 747 flown by ACT Airlines under the name MyCargo crashed as it prepared to land in fog in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, killing all four crew on board and 35 people on the ground. ACT Airlines flew that route from Hong Kong on behalf of Turkish Airlines.

A later report on the crash by Kyrgyz authorities blamed the flight crew for misjudging the plane’s position while landing in poor weather. The crew was tired and had a heated exchange with air-traffic control before the crash, the report said.