4 seriously hurt when Transair Boeing 737 skids off runway during takeoff in Senegal
The 737 plane skidded off the runway at Blaise Diagne at about 1 a.m. Thursday.
LONDON -- A Boeing 737-300 airplane crashed during takeoff at Senegal's Blaise Diagne International Airport, local officials said.
Air Senegal flight HC301, which was operated by Transair, "overran the runway" at about 1:14 a.m. on Thursday, Senegal's Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Air Transport said in an statement in French.
The aircraft was carrying 78 people, including two pilots and four cabin crew members, the ministry said.
Eleven people were injured, the Senegalese military said, including four people in life-threatening condition.
Videos circulating online appeared to show a Transair plane with the serial number 6V-AJE lying on a grassy bank. The left engine of the plane appears damaged and the brush close to the runway appeared to be covered with Aqueous Film Forming Foam.
Blaise Diagne is the main airport servicing Dakar, the Senegalese capital. The fight had been destined for Bamako, Mali.
The airport was closed for several hours in the wake of the accident.
ABC News' Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.