A Boeing 747 operating a cargo flight on behalf of Emirates just ran off the runway in Hong Kong and ended up in the water, and sadly there are a couple of casualties.
In this post:
Air ACT Boeing 747 veers off Hong Kong runway
This incident happened at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) a little before 4AM local time on Monday, October 20, 2025. It involves Air ACT flight EK9788, which was operating from Dubai World Central (DWC). The flight was operated by a 32-year-old Boeing 747-400 with the registration code TC-ACF.
After a 6hr53min flight, the jumbo jet landed on runway 7L, the airport’s northernmost runway. While exact details remain to be seen, the plane somehow slid off the runway (not at the end, but to the side), and then crashed into the sea. In the process, it somehow struck a ground service vehicle.
The flight crew of four people were all rescued and didn’t sustain serious injuries. However, the two people in the vehicle had a different outcome — they were thrown in the water, and both tragically passed away.
For context, Air ACT is a Turkish cargo airline, and this flight was being operated on behalf of Emirates Cargo (as you can tell based on the use of Emirates’ code, “EK”). Air ACT only had two Boeing 747-400s before this, so it lost half of its fleet in this accident (of course the loss of an aircraft is much less significant than the loss of life).
Let’s see what an investigation into this incident reveals
As of now, there are a lot more questions than answers as to what happened. The weather conditions weren’t bad, so what caused the plane to veer off the runway and into the water? Was the vehicle on the runway while the plane landed, and that’s what sent the plane off the runway? Or did the plane hit the vehicle after going off the runway?
To state the obvious, it’s absolutely surreal to see a Boeing 747 simply floating in the sea, broken into parts. And what a tragedy that two lives were claimed in this incident. If there’s any silver lining, at least this wasn’t a passenger flight, where the potential injuries and casualties could’ve been much higher.
Bottom line
An Air ACT Boeing 747 operating on behalf of Emirates had an awful accident early Monday morning, as it skid off the runway and plunged into the sea. While the entire crew was rescued without injury, unfortunately the plane also hit a vehicle on the ground, which had two people in it, and they both lost their lives.
My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives… how sad. It’ll be interesting to see what an investigation into this incident reveals.
What do you make of this Boeing 747 incident in Hong Kong?
Of course it was Turkish… wouldn’t trust those fellas… they won’t admit to the Armenian genocide… and their leader is an autocrat… meaning, they don’t tend to value the truth, which can be deadly fields like aviation.
Anyhoo, glad no one got hurt too much. Sucks for the cargo and the aircraft. Gonna assume that’s a total write-off, unless you can scoop it outta the harbor… yeah, no, yeah… it’s gone.
Whoopsie, I see the vehicle (2 missing). Sowie!
According to SCMP, both occupants of the vehicle have died.
Seeing a 747 in the water off Hong Kong with no vertical stabilizer reminds me of China Airlines 605, which ran off the runway at Kai Tak. They dynamited the stabilizer because it was interfering with instrument landing systems. Here, something sheared it off.
Awful. Their families deserve to be fully-compensated by the company responsible (Turkish airline ATC.)
Uh, that's what the investigation is for. It's not clear if the vehicle was on the runway or off, and if on, why.
Like someone else said, why on earth would you seemingly make light of the situation by that quip of Air ACT being reduced to one 747?!?! Someone died. Lucky jokes. Classy...NOT!
Oh, now I see… ‘two missing’ from the vehicle that was struck… if so, how tragic… hopefully Turkey won’t deny this either… speaking of, they also committed a genocide against the Greeks around the same time (1915-1922), which they also won’t own up to… hmm…
Scary situation. With the pilot alive, let’s hope for a speedy investigation with firsthand accounts of what happened. Also let’s hope all survivors have paid leave from work to heal psychologically from something like this.
“Air ACT only has two Boeing 747-400s… and I guess now it has just one of them.”
Not sure why you’d make a flippant remark in a story reporting the death of at least one person.
@ MFK -- You're right, I'm sorry, that came across a lot more flippantly than I intended, and I should have expressed that batter. I certainly wasn't trying to make a joke, so I updated the post. My point was to say that the airline lost half its fleet in this accident (which doesn't often happen), but of course that's secondary to any loss of life.
Oh, please, don’t take MFK too seriously. Ben, we know you weren’t making light of anyone’s harm. Trolls gon troll. Troll them back, if you’re into it.
Takes a troll to know a troll 1990, go back to ‘moderating” VFTW. stay off this one FFS. I’m running out of blogs where your incessant post aren’t polluting the comments.
Oh FFS, MFK, don't be so bloody precious.
I disagree with MFK's post. Even without the correction, it's unfair to suggest flippancy. I'd rather the victims were described as being "killed" since that's what happened and it was obviously brutal and tragic, rather than "passed away" which is more appropriate in a nonviolent death. Normal English-language journalism never uses "passed away" in a report of events such as these.