When a Pegasus Airlines plane skidded off the runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport last Wednesday, killing three and injuring 179 people, two Israeli passengers were among those injured.

Kan News spoke with Israeli passenger Ehud Shoval, who spoke about what he experienced after the plane crashed.

“I was fully conscious. I was a bleeding a little. I barely managed to get off the plane. Outside the plane, there were a lot people helping the passengers who got off the plane to the ambulances. They actually carried me in their arms. They really took very good care of me.”

Turkish media outlets stated on Thursday that the pilots of the Boeing 737 are suspected of causing death and injuries through negligence and will be subject to an investigation. The pilots, who were also injured in the crash, are currently still hospitalized and will be questioned by the police when their medical treatment is completed.

U.S. aviation investigators arrived at the site of the crash in Istanbul, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.

A team from aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the U.S. civil aviation authority inspected the wreckage of the Boeing 737 that skidded off the runaway.

The aircraft, which split into three pieces in the accident, will later be dismantled and removed by crane, Anadolu said.

The crash happened as the 11-year-old aircraft landed in strong winds and heavy rain.

The U.S. team is looking to see if there were any technical factors that could have contributed to the accident, Anadolu reported.

Investigators are examining many possible causes, including the plane’s speed and the weather at the time of the crash. On Thursday, Pegasus Airlines CEO Mehmet T. Nane said the plane’s black boxes had been recovered and the data from them was being deciphered.

A report on the crash, in which 180 passengers and crew members were injured, is expected in a month’s time, Anadolu reported.

Prosecutors have taken statements from air traffic control staff, airport employees and the pilots of two other planes that aborted landings shortly before the Pegasus flight landed.

Pegasus has had several recent instances of overshooting runways.

Another Pegasus Airlines plane skidded off the runway at the same airport on Jan. 7, causing the temporary closure of the airport. There were no injuries.

In January 2018, another Boeing 737 in the Pegasus fleet slid off a runway at Trabzon Airport in northeastern Turkey. The plane came to rest in the dirt above the Black Sea with its nose pointed toward the water. No one was injured.

(AP & YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)