AMSTERDAM — A Turkish Airlines jetliner plummeted out of the sky and plowed into a muddy field on approach to Amsterdam this morning, but remarkably, 126 people — most of whom were sitting near the wings — survived.
Nine people died, including both pilots.
PHOTOS: Plane Splits Into Pieces During Crash
But the crash supported the theory that the safest place to sit in an aircraft is in — or close to — the emergency exit rows over the wings.
The fuselage of the Boeing 737 ruptured in three places — but the breaks were well away from the wings.
A strong steel box reinforces the section of fuselage between the wings, so passengers in this area are less likely to be struck by torn metal or debris, officials said.
As a result, passengers near the exits were able to escape more quickly.
In the 1995 American Airlines crash that killed 159 people in Colombia, the four survivors were all sitting over the wings.
The absence of fire after today’s crash was partly due to safety improvements that reduce the risk of fuel igniting, officials said.
The Boeing 737-800, en route from Istanbul to Amsterdam, hit the ground about two miles short of the runway at Schiphol Airport at 10:31 a.m.
The fuselage split in two, close to the cockpit, and the tail broke off.
Since the wreckage didn’t catch fire, scores of people walked away uninjured.
Survivor Huseyin Sumer said he crawled to safety out of a crack in the fuselage.
“We were about to land, we could not understand what was happening, some passengers screamed in panic but it happened so fast,” Sumer said.
Pieter van Vollenhoven, head of the Dutch Safety Authority investigating the cause, said it appeared the plane lost speed before crashing.
“You see that because of a lack of speed it literally fell out of the sky,” he told NOS radio after visiting the crash site.
The planes flight data recorders have been found and will be analyzed by experts.
Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said it was a miracle there were not more casualties.
“The fact that the plane landed on a soft surface and that there was no fire helped keep the number of fatalities low,” he said.
Experts said crashes involving modern airliners are more survivable due to engineering advances that have resulted in strengthened structures and fire retardant technologies used for cabin seats and furnishings, as well as better emergency training of both cockpit and cabin crews.
The most dramatic example of passenger survival was in the Hudson River splash landing last month of a US Airways Airbus A320 that lost engine power when it struck a flock of birds. All 155 people on board lived.
Investigators said two pilots and an apprentice pilot were among the dead.
Six of the injured were in critical condition, 25 were seriously hurt and 24 had slight injuries.
Investigators will explore a wide range of possible causes of the crash, ranging from weather-related factors such as wind shear or icing, to fuel starvation, navigational errors, pilot fatigue or bird strikes.