Photo Eyewitness News
A group of journalists escaped unharmed when the light aircraft they were travelling in was forced to make an emergency landing at Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg on Sunday.
“An SAA Metroliner took off with 13 passengers and two crew on the way to Polokwane,” said Johan Opperman, marketing and public relations manager for the airport.
“After take-off they realised there were problems with the undercarriage. They decided to return to Lanseria.”
Opperman said they got “emergency technical advice” on how best to do this.
“They flew around for about an hour to get rid of excess fuel and then completed a wheels-up landing” — where the plane lands on its belly.
Opperman said the emergency landing took place around 11am. The plane was damaged, but the passengers and crew were unharmed.
He said that according to “unconfirmed reports” the passengers were Al-Jazeera journalists. Some of them received trauma counselling.
Algeria is playing Slovenia in Polokwane on Sunday as part of the World Cup Soccer tournament. – Sapa