Brit passengers feared ‘it was the end’ as plane’s tail is SLICED OFF in runway crash at busy Istanbul Atatürk airport
The wing of the Asiana Airbus A330 can be seen hitting the tail fin of the Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 knocking it clean off
The wing of the Asiana Airbus A330 can be seen hitting the tail fin of the Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 knocking it clean off
THIS is the moment British tourists feared "the end" when their holiday plane was hit by another jet on the runway at a busy international airport.
Those on board said they thought a "bomb had gone off" when the two aircraft suddenly collided on the tarmac at Istanbul Atatürk Airport, in Turkey.
A Brit mother-of-two said she feared for her life when the Turkish Airlines plane she was on had its tail sheared off in the shocking collision.
Tourist Kaarina Barron, 55, from Woodley, Berkshire, and friend Clare Chambers were seated near the back of the plane after a holiday in northern Cyprus.
: "We hadn’t even been stationary for a minute and the engines were still going when there was this huge noise.
"It sounded like a bomb going off and the whole plane seemed to tilt over. For a moment I really thought 'this is it, this is the end of my life'."
She revealed emergency crews were soon at the scene of the crash and although her flight was full nobody on board was injured.
Video footage shows a Turkish Airlines flight parked at its gate when it is hit by another passenger plane.
The Asiana plane had just started to taxi before take off when it collided with the other jet on Sunday afternoon.
The wing of the Asiana Airbus A330 can be seen hitting the tail fin of the Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 knocking it clean off.
No passengers are believed to have been injured in the crash but both planes were left needing extensive repairs.
The Asiana Airbus A330, due to fly to the South Korean capital of Seoul when the crash happened, is thought to have been grounded in Istanbul.
It is believed the passengers were later put on a different plane to complete their journey.
The plane may have been waiting for boarding ahead a journey to an unknown destination.
An investigation will now be launched into the exact circumstances of the crash.
Istanbul Atatürk Airport is the main international airport for Istanbul and the biggest in Turkey by total number of passengers served.
A Turkish Airlines spokeswoman said: "Turkish Airlines confirms that the Airbus A330 type aircraft of the South Korean airline, Asiana Airlines, hit the tail of Turkish Airlines' Airbus A321 while it was taxiing.
"There were no passengers and crew injured due to the incident, it just caused physical damage on both aircrafts."