7 injured as plane skids off runway in China

Seven passengers were injured after a passenger plane skidded off a runway while taxiing in a southeast China airport on Sunday noon, local authorities said.

Joyair flight JR1529 careered off the runway when landing at Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FCIA) in Fuzhou City, capital of Fujian Province. A Xinhua journalist at the airport reported seeing smoke from the plane and passengers fleeing the cabin.

Pictures on microblog Sina Weibo show one of the wings broken. A tank can be seen dousing the plane with water.

There were 45 passengers and seven cabin crew on board when the accident happened. Of the seven injured, five have left hospital after some treatment and the rest two remained hospitalized for further medical observation.

The accident forced the airport to close for six hours and once affected about 80 flights in and out of the city. Many passengers remained stranded as the flights are resuming.

The aircraft, a China-built Modern Ark 60 (MA60), was flying on a connecting route between Fuzhou, the eastern city of Yiwu in Zhejiang Province, and Hefei in east China's Anhui Province. It departed from Yiwu at 10: 42 a.m. and was scheduled to land in Fuzhou at 12:10 p.m..

The aviation authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

Joyair was jointly established by the Aviation Industry Corp. of China and China Eastern Airlines with an investment of 1 billion yuan (161.1 million U.S. dollars). The airline's fleet consists of mainly domestic-made regional aircraft, including the MA and ARJ21 models.

Joyair reported multiple accidents last year.

In February, an MA60 plane with 44 people aboard nose-dived during taxiing due to a landing gear fault in central China's Zhengzhou City.

In December, another Joyair plane was forced to make an emergency landing in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

No casualties were reported in either case.

Joyair issued an apology to the public on its official website following today's accident.