747 Runway Excursion at Hong Kong Killed Two Ground Workers

The landing appeared normal until the aircraft veered left

On 20 October 2025, Boeing 747-481(BDSF) TC-ACF, operated by ACT Airlines for Emirates SkyCargo as flight EK9788, arrived at Hong Kong International Airport from Al Maktoum on a repositioning flight. The aircraft was empty apart from its four crew members. The final approach and initial landing appeared normal.

The aircraft left the runway

During the landing roll, approximately halfway down Runway 07L, the aircraft suddenly veered to the left. It travelled down the runway embankment and continued toward the water beside the runway. The aircraft broke apart after entering the sea and came to rest near the runway edge.

The impact involved a ground vehicle

Four crew members evacuated the aircraft and were rescued. The excursion also struck an airport security patrol vehicle, which was pushed into the sea. The two men inside it were killed. This makes the event materially different from an aircraft-only runway excursion: the most serious fatalities were on the ground.

The Early Reporting Did Not Establish a Cause

The preliminary record identifies the aircraft, its four crew members, the two ground fatalities and the runway-excursion sequence. It does not establish a cause.

Contemporary reporting on the occurrence.

The Preliminary Investigation Has Not Established a Cause

The early report states: ‘the cause is totally unknown at present.’

The two men killed were airport security staff

The vehicle struck by the aircraft was an airport security patrol car, not a maintenance unit. Airport Authority Hong Kong said it was patrolling a road that ran outside the runway fence, in the area it normally covered, and had not strayed onto the runway itself. The aircraft crossed the perimeter fencing before reaching it, and pushed the car into the water.

Both occupants died. One, aged 30, had worked at the airport for seven years and was confirmed dead at the scene. The other, aged 41, had driven the patrol vehicle for twelve years and died after being taken to North Lantau Hospital. Divers recovered both men from the submerged car, which came to rest roughly five metres from the shoreline.

No distress call preceded the landing

Officials were explicit that nothing in the approach signalled a problem. The Airport Authority said the aircraft transmitted no distress message and made no request for assistance before landing. Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority confirmed that air traffic control had cleared the flight to the north runway and had received no call for help from the crew.

Conditions were also not an obvious factor. The Airport Authority stated that the weather and the runway surface were within normal operating limits at the time, and that the runway met the requirements for use. That combination — a serviceable runway, unremarkable weather, no distress call, and a normal approach followed by a sudden left veer during the landing roll — is what makes the sequence difficult to explain from the surface evidence alone.

What investigators said they would examine

The Air Accident Investigation Authority said it was recovering the aircraft’s flight recorders and that the investigation would cover aircraft maintenance, flight operations and weather. No probable cause had been established at the time of this reconstruction, and nothing in the early record should be read as one.

The aircraft was a Boeing 747-400 freighter wet-leased from ACT Airlines, a Turkish cargo operator that supplies additional capacity to larger carriers, and was operating on behalf of Emirates. Emirates confirmed that no cargo was aboard and that all four crew were safe. Photographs from the scene showed the aircraft partially submerged with its tail section separated from the fuselage, damage below the cockpit, and an escape slide deployed.

The deadliest accident at the airport in decades

Hong Kong International Airport is the world’s busiest cargo hub, and the accident was among the most serious there since the airport opened in 1998. The north runway was closed following the accident while the central and south runways continued to operate.

The fatalities are worth stating plainly, because they are easy to lose in a runway-excursion summary: every person aboard the aircraft survived, and both people who died were on the ground, doing routine work in an area they were entitled to be in.

Accident Facts

Sources

• Hong Kong AAIA preliminary report notice: https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202511/18/P2025111700567.htm