SALT LAKE CITY — Some say it’s a scene reminiscent of the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson.”
Passengers of Air Niugini were on a flight destined for the Chuuk Island airport in Micronesia when their plane came just short of the runway and launched into the Pacific Ocean.
Initial reports stated that all 47 passengers and crew survived. However, on Monday, Air Niugini announced that one passenger had died in the accident.
"The Papua New Guinea national carrier said on Saturday one passenger had not been accounted for, but witnesses had reported he had reached a dinghy as U.S. Navy sailors and local residents rescued people from the sinking plane," ABC News reported. On Monday, the man's body was recovered from the lagoon by divers.
According to USA Today, passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft safely thanks to the quick response of local boats as well as U.S. Navy sailors who were working on a wharf nearby.
The Independent reported that all occupants of the plane were taken to a local hospital to be examined. Eight remained there, with four in serious but stable condition.
Air Niugini issued a brief statement via Twitter shortly after the crash.
“I thought we landed hard,” passenger Bill Jaynes said in an interview shared with the Associated Press. “Until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water was coming in. And I thought, well, this is not the way it’s supposed to happen.”
Jaynes said he had to wade through waist-deep water to get to the emergency exit.
Local authorities are investigating the cause of the crash. Multiple reports said there was decreased visibility due to adverse weather.
"The striking images of people being rescued from the half-submerged plane were reminiscent of the 2009 crash landing in New York City known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson,'" USA Today noted, in which 155 passengers survived an emergency landing in the Hudson River.
The Federated States of Micronesia is a nation made up of over 600 islands in the Pacific. Chuuk makes up one of its four island states. The country is north of Australia and east of the Philippines.
According to USA Today, the country has close ties to the United States under an agreement known as a compact of free association.
This story has been updated.