A Boeing 747 operating a cargo flight on behalf of Emirates ran off the runway in Hong Kong and ended up in the water, and sadly there are a couple of casualties. While I first covered this shortly after the accident, we’ve learned more details with each hour, so I’d like to go over everything we know.
Air ACT Boeing 747 veers off Hong Kong runway
This incident happened at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) a little before 4AM local time on Monday, October 20, 2025. It involves Air ACT flight EK9788, which was operating from Dubai World Central (DWC). The flight was operated by a 32-year-old Boeing 747-400 with the registration code TC-ACF.
After a 6hr53min flight, the jumbo jet landed on runway 7L, the airport’s northernmost runway. While it remains to be seen why this happened, the plane somehow veered off the runway. It slowed to around 100 knots as usual, but then it turned left, and it crashed into the water at around 60 knots.
Unfortunately after veering off the runway and before crashing into the sea, the plane struck a ground service vehicle driving on the airport’s perimeter road.
The Air ACT Boeing 747 slid off the runway
The flight crew of four people were all rescued and didn’t sustain serious injuries. However, the two people in the vehicle had a different outcome — they were tragically killed in this accident (one was declared dead at the scene, and the other was taken to a hospital, and then declared dead).
New daylight photos of the AirACT 747-400 show significant damage to the aircraft after veering off the runway while landing in Hong Kong.
An air traffic control recording indicates the cargo plane’s pilot confirmed plans to land on runway 07L where the crash occurred, but he… pic.twitter.com/wAHV0RVGO5
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) October 20, 2025
At the time of the accident, there was no distress call from the pilots, and the approach was completely normal. The weather at the time of the accident was fine — there were wind gusts up to 21 knots, but that’s hardly anything out of the ordinary. Below you can see a video with the air traffic control audio, leading up to the accident.
It’s absolutely surreal to see a Boeing 747 simply floating in the sea, broken into parts. And what a tragedy that two lives were claimed in this accident. If there’s any silver lining, at least this wasn’t a passenger flight, where the potential injuries and casualties could’ve been much higher.
For context, Air ACT is a Turkish cargo airline, and this flight was being operated on behalf of Emirates Cargo (as you can tell based on the use of Emirates’ code, “EK”). Air ACT only had two Boeing 747-400s before this, so it lost half of its fleet in this accident (of course the loss of an aircraft is much less significant than the loss of life).
What could’ve caused this terrible accident?
As of now, there are a lot more questions than answers as to what happened. To state the obvious, planes don’t typically veer off runways, especially when there are no previous distress calls, and when weather conditions are fine.
One would assume that the most likely cause of the accident was either some sort of mechanical failure, or pilot error (admittedly that’s what causes most accidents). Was there a gear or reverse thrust issue after the plane landed?
Unfortunately Air ACT doesn’t exactly have a great safety record. In 2017, the airline had a fatal Boeing 747 crash in Bishkek (FRU), where it was operating on behalf of Turkish Airlines. While attempting to land at the airport, the plane crashed into a residential area, killing 39 people (four crew members and 35 people on the ground). This was determined to largely be due to pilot error. Such a small airline having two 747 hull losses is pretty alarming.
Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority (AIAA) is investigating this latest incident, and has released the following statement:
“The Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) has launched an investigation into an accident involving a B744 cargo aircraft (flight number UAE9788), arriving from Al Maktoum International Airport, United Arab Emirates, deviating from the North Runway after landing and ditched into the sea this morning (October 20). It was also found that a ground handling vehicle had fallen into the sea, causing the death of two people on board.”
Bottom line
An Air ACT Boeing 747 operating on behalf of Emirates had an awful accident early Monday morning, as it skid off the runway and plunged into the sea. While the entire crew was rescued without injury, unfortunately the plane also hit a vehicle with people in it that was driving on an airport access road, and sadly those people were killed.
My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives… how sad. It’ll be interesting to see what an investigation into this incident reveals.
What do you make of this Boeing 747 incident in Hong Kong?