HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday were preparing to reopen the runway where a cargo aircraft crashed a day ago, but said it would remain out of regular use until wreckage from the accident was fully cleared.
The Boeing 747 flown by Turkiye-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 to fall into the sea. Two workers in the car were found dead, while 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.
But Yiu said the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have not yet been retrieved.
Authorities were aiming to put the runway on standby status, which means that it can be used for landings but will not be included in regular flight planning, from Tuesday noon.
The aircraft was being operated under lease by Emirates, a long-haul carrier based in Dubai.
Yiu said that the runway will remain on standby until the wreckage is fully cleared from the nearby sea.
Hong Kong authorities were in contact with barge companies to plan for the clearance but they could not begin removal work while Tropical Storm Fengshen was still affecting the city, he said. He said the airport planned to remove the wreckage and the car and complete other related work within a week, depending on weather.
Investigators will continue collecting evidence after the clearance as they continue working 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.
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.
Hong Kong runway set for reopening after crash but won’t be used regularly for now
https://arab.news/2w5ya
Hong Kong runway set for reopening after crash but won’t be used regularly for now
- Boeing 747 skidded off to the left after landing in the early hours of Monday
- The aircraft collided with a patrol car, causing both to fall into the sea
Ahead of strikes, Trump was told Iran attack is high risk, high reward
- Experts caution that the unfolding conflict could take dangerous turns and the first official said the Pentagon’s planning did not appear to guarantee the outcome of any conflict
WASHINGTON: Ahead of the US attack on Iran, President Donald Trump received briefings that not only delivered blunt assessments about the risk of major US casualties but also touted the prospect of a geopolitical shift in the Middle East in favor of US interests, a US official told Reuters. The launch of what the Pentagon called Operation Epic Fury on Saturday plunged the Middle East into a new and unpredictable conflict. The US and Israeli militaries struck sites across Iran, triggering retaliatory Iranian attacks against Israel and nearby Gulf Arab countries.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the briefers described the operation to the president as a high-risk, high-reward scenario that could present a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change in the region.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Trump briefings included risks, opportunities in Middle East
• Diplomatic efforts with Iran fail to avert military confrontation
• Iran vows retaliation, targets US and Israeli interests
Trump himself appeared to echo that sentiment when he acknowledged the stakes at the onset of the operation, saying “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost.”
“But we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission,” Trump said in a video address announcing the start of major combat operations.
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder ... We’re not gonna put up with it any longer.”
The briefings from Trump’s national security team help explain how the president decided to pursue arguably the riskiest US military operation since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Ahead of the strikes, Trump received multiple briefings from officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On Thursday, Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, flew to Washington to join discussions in the White House Situation Room.
A second US official said that before the strikes, the White House had been briefed on risks associated with operations against Iran, including retaliatory strikes on multiple US bases in the region by Iranian missiles that could overwhelm defenses, as well as Iranian proxies attacking US troops in Iraq and Syria.
The official said that despite the massive military buildup by the United States, there were limits to the air defense systems that had been rushed into the region.
Experts caution that the unfolding conflict could take dangerous turns and the first official said the Pentagon’s planning did not appear to guarantee the outcome of any conflict.
Trump called on Iranians to topple the government but that is easier said than done, said Nicole Grajewski with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“The Iranian opposition is pretty fragmented. It’s unclear what the population is willing to do in terms of rising up,” Grajewski said.
Both US officials requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the internal discussions.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.
TRUMP’S SWEEPING GOALS
In the weeks leading up to the attack, Trump ordered a major military buildup in the Middle East. Reuters reported military planning to carry out a sustained campaign against Iran, if that is what the president chose. Plans included targeting individual officials, officials said.
An Israeli official said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were both targeted but the result of the strikes was unclear. Speaking on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were many signs indicating that Khamenei “is no longer” and called on Iranians to “take to the streets to finish the job.”
Trump made clear on Saturday that his objectives in Iran were sweeping, saying he would end the threat posed by Tehran to the United States and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers. To accomplish this, he outlined plans to lay waste to much of Iran’s military as well as deny it the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground... We’re going to annihilate their navy,” he said. “We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces.”
Trump’s decision demonstrates an increasing risk appetite, far greater than when he ordered US special operations forces into Venezuela last month to seize that country’s president in an audacious raid.
The unfolding campaign against Iran is also riskier than when Trump ordered US forces to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites in June.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened all US bases and interests in the region and said Iran’s retaliation would continue until “the enemy is decisively defeated.”
Experts warn that Iran has many options for retaliation, including missile strikes but also drones and cyber warfare.
Daniel Shapiro, a former senior Pentagon official for Middle East issues, said that despite the US and Israeli strikes, Tehran would still be capable of causing some pain.
“Iran has many more ballistic missiles that can reach US bases than the US has interceptors ... some Iranian weapons will get through,” said Shapiro, also a former US ambassador to Israel. “(The strikes are) a major gamble.”
