Alaska plane hits a bear while landing, passengers safe

An Alaska Airlines plane hit a bear while landing at the airport in Alaska. The incident happened on early Saturday evening, Guardian reported quoting local authorities. The bear was killed instantly while the plane also sustained damage. All the passengers are reported safe.

The incident happened at the Yakutat Airport in south-east Alaska. “The Boeing 737-700 killed the brown bear sow, but a cub thought to be about two years old was uninjured”, Alaska transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said.

“Planes have been reported to hit deer, geese, caribou and other animals in Alaska, but this is the first time I am aware of a bear being struck”, he added.

Runway was cleared 10 minutes before the landing of the plane and no wildlife was seen.”The pilots spotted the two bears crossing the runway as the jet slowed after landing”, Dapcevich said.

“The nose gear missed the bears, but the captain felt an impact on the left side after the bears passed under the plane,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.

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“The pilots saw the bear lying about 20 ft from the center of the runway as the plane taxied to a parking area just before 6.30pm”, the airline said.

The airport is partially enclosed by a fence. Employees undergo annual wildlife hazard training and use pyrotechnics or vehicles to herd animals away.