A plane crashed around 6 p.m. local time at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in the Turkish city of Istanbul. One person is reported to have died and 157 are injured, AFP reports.

The aircraft, which belongs to the low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines, had flown from Izmir in western Turkey.

In rain and strong winds, the plane skidded off the runway and the fuselage broke into three pieces. A mobile video on CNN Türk shows passengers leaving the plane after the crash.

Television images also show how a fire was extinguished by emergency services and how dozens of paramedics helped passengers evacuate the plane wreckage.

”"Some passengers evacuated the plane on their own, but others are trapped inside and our rescuers are working to get them out," Turkish Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan told CNN Turk.

According to Istanbul Mayor Ali Yerlikaya, the plane first slid ”approximately 60 meters” before continuing ”approximately 30-40 meters” down a slope.

In total, there were nearly 180 people on board the plane. According to Turkish media, twelve of the passengers were children.

Traffic to and from the airport has been stopped due to the accident and arriving flights have been redirected, reports the Anatolia news agency.

Pegasus Airlines was involved in an incident at the same airport as recently as January 7. That time, too, one of the company's planes skidded off the runway, but the aircraft escaped without damage and the 164 passengers were able to be evacuated without any reported injuries.

In January 2018, one of the airline's planes skidded off the runway in Trabzon, eastern Turkey. After landing, the plane continued down an embankment and stopped just meters before reaching the sea.

Source: TT