Aircraft Collides with Tower

A major aviation incident occurred at Antalya International Airport involving a wide-body Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (tail number TC-LKD) operated by Turkish Airlines on domestic flight TK2430 from Istanbul. After a safe landing, while taxiing on the airfield, the crew guided the aircraft onto the wrong taxiway. As a result of the mistake, the aircraft’s 64-meter right wing forcefully struck a metal support of a ground-based radar station. The impact caused the structure to collapse, and its sharp fragment pierced right through the passenger cabin fuselage on the right side.

There were 267 passengers on board, among whom, according to media reports, were many Russian tourists who had chosen this popular transit route for their holiday. At the moment of the collision, one of the baggage compartments inside the cabin was completely destroyed, part of the ceiling panel collapsed, and oxygen masks deployed automatically. Due to the powerful impact and sudden damage, panic broke out among those in the area of the collision, and several people suffered severe nervous shock.

The flight crew urgently deployed inflatable slides and evacuated everyone onto the apron. According to official statements by the airline’s public relations director Yahya Ustun, no one was killed in the incident, one person sustained minor injuries (according to other reports — up to three people), and there is no threat to his life. The damaged aircraft was temporarily towed to a special parking area, while aviation authorities and technical services began investigating the causes of the pilots’ disorientation on the runway.