Italy airport reopens after cargo plane slides onto local road

The DHL courier company's Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft rests on a road after it came off the runway after landing at the airport of Bergamo Orio al Serio on Aug 5, 2016. PHOTO: EPA
The DHL courier company's Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft rests on a road after it came off the runway after landing at the airport of Bergamo Orio al Serio on Aug 5, 2016. PHOTO: EPA

MILAN (Reuters) - A northern Italian airport reopened on Friday (Aug 5) hours after being temporarily shut down when a cargo plane exited the runway after landing and slid onto a local road, Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC said.

The two-person crew of the aircraft was unharmed and there were no injuries on the ground, ENAC said in a statement.

The DHL 737-400 aircraft that flew in from France's Charles de Gaulle airport slid through the airport's fences after landing at Bergamo's Orio al Serio airport north-east of Milan.

Pictures posted on Twitter showed the aircraft's belly resting on a two-lane road with the nose poking onto another street and resting on a guard rail.

The incident happened at just after 4am local time (10am, Singapore time) Friday morning, and the airport was reopened by 7am.

Although the airport is open, ENAC said travelers flying through should contact the airlines to make sure their flights are operating.

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