An ERJ-190 passenger plane overshot the runway during landing in a south China city Wednesday, briefly interrupting the airport traffic but causing no casualties, airport officials said Thursday.
The accident occurred just half a day after another Brazil-made ERJ-190 jet missed the runway and crashed to the ground in Yichun City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, killing 42 and injuring another 54.
The plane of Tianjin Airlines, with code number GS7441, overshot the runway at Wuxu International Airport in Nanning City, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, around 11 a.m. Wednesday and slid onto the grassland, said sources with the Guangxi Airport Management Group.
Several runway lights were crashed but no plane damages or casualties were reported, the sources said.
The airport was closed for an hour before it reopened at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday, and three flights were delayed, they said.
A spokesman with the sales department in Nanning of Tianjin Airlines told Xinhua that they hadn't received any orders from headquarters to suspend operations of other ERJ-190 planes.
The plane took off from Xi'An, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and was about to stop over shortly in Nanning before heading to Haikou, Hainan Province.
The cause of the accident was not known. But heavy rains brought by tropical storm Mindulle pounded Nanning, soaking the runway before the accident occurred.
In Yichun case, the probe continued Thursday but local officials and an airline executive did not disclose any details of the investigation.
About 30 ERJ-190 jets are in service in China. Five are operated by Henan Airlines and 25 are operated by Tianjin Airlines. All are in service less than two years.
The jets operated by Tianjin Airlines take off or land at the Wuxu International Airport 18 times every day.