Boeing 737 passenger jet skids off runway and crashes at airport in Senegal

A Boeing 737 jet carrying 78 passengers skidded off the runway in Senegal after its wing burst into flames.

The Air Senegal plane bound for the Malian capital of Bamako skidded onto the grass at Dakar’s Blaise Daigne airport before take-off during the early hours of Thursday.

All operations have since been halted at the airport.

An image posted online shows a gaping hole in the left engine and the wing of the plane covered in firefighting foam.

Eleven people were injured in the incident, four of whom are in a serious condition.

Global aviation safety company JacDec claimed that the flight had “experienced a hydraulic issue during acceleration for take-off”.

Air Senegal and Boeing have been approached for comment.

The airline is based in Blaise Diagne airport and operates domestic flights and international routes within West Africa.

The incident comes as Boeing faces growing questions over its safety record.

Dave Calhoun, the company’s chief executive, announced last month that he would step down at the end of the year as part of a management overhaul.

Larry Kellner, who chairs Boeing’s board of directors, will also leave his role.

Boeing has been heavily scrutinised since one of its 737 Max 9 planes operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a mid-air blowout on January 5.

This sparked major concerns into quality control at Boeing, resulting in the Federal Aviation Administration imposing limits on its production.

The incident in Senegal comes a day after a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft, operated by FedEx, performed an emergency landing in Turkey after its landing gear failed.

The flight, which took off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, was nearing Istanbul when the pilot realised the landing gear was malfunctioning.

Footage shows the plane touching down on the runway and scraping its nose along the concrete.

Nobody onboard the plane was injured and the aircraft was safely evacuated, Turkey’s transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said in a statement.

Ryanair has cancelled some flights scheduled for this summer due to delays in deliveries of Boeing 737 MAX 8200 planes.

Mr O’Leary warned in February that the reduction in capacity from expected levels means Ryanair’s ticket prices will be up to 10 per cent more expensive this summer compared with the same period last year.