6 Jan 2014

Emergency landing made by Saudi plane at Medina

6:01 am on 6 January 2014

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 767 made an emergency landing early on Sunday in the city of Medina, injuring 29 people, three of them seriously.

The 767-300ER aircraft was arriving from Mashhad, Iran, with 315 people on board: 299 passengers and 16 crew.

The BBC reports 12 of the injured were taken to hospital for treatment.

Aviation officials said the rear right-side landing gear had failed to deploy.

A witness at Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz international airport said the plane made two unsuccessful attempts to land before making the third emergency approach.

The General Authority for Civil Aviation said the injuries happened as people rushed to leave the plane.

Afterwards, all flights to Medina were halted for 24 hours, the airline said.