Last update - 00:00 08/11/2007
El Al plane from N.Y. hits flower crates at B-G Airport; no injuries
By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondent
An El Al airplane carrying approximately 450 passengers from New York was involved in a ground accident at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday, causing no damage.
The Boeing 747-700 brushed against crates of flowers which were positioned too close to its parking bay. No passengers were hurt in the incident, and all disembarked without hindrance.
Yitzhak Raz from the Israel Aviation Authority's accident department was investigating the incident. According to Raz the flowers were simply placed too close to the airplane's motor in its parking bay, and it brushed against them.
"In this case, no danger was posed to passengers. All that happened was a slight scrape of the motor's exterior," he said.
Deputy Manager of Operations at El Al, Captain Lior Yavor said the airplane was not damaged in the incident.
The accident was the most recent in a string of dangerous incidents at Ben Gurion airport. The International Civil Aviation Organization conducted a probe in Israel in January, finding severe safety breaches in almost all of the country's air facilities.
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