A fuel truck owned by the Vietnam Aviation Petroleum Company hit and destroyed the engine of a Vietnam Airlines plane at HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 9.

A fuel truck owned by the Vietnam Aviation Petroleum Company (Vinapco) hit and destroyed the engine of a Vietnam Airlines plane at HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 9.

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According to Vietnam Airlines, a flight to Frankfurt (Germany) at 11:10pm, May 9 was cancelled after the plane was hit by a Vinapco fuel truck while picking up passengers. Vinapco is a subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines.

The accident damaged the left engine of this Boeing 777. Gas from the fuel truck also spilled over the runway and the airport’s firefighting forces had to take immediate measures to prevent fire and explosion.

Vietnam Airlines arranged another plane for the flight to Germany and brought the damaged Boeing to its technical station. The firm invited Boeing experts to assess the damage and repair it.

The truck driver and another worker were banned from their jobs and coming to the airport.

Vinapco Director Tran Huu Phuc flew to HCM City from Hanoi to investigate the case. He maintained that this is a rare accident and it needs to be investigated by experts.

At the same time, an official from the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration revealed that the agency will decide the form of punishment on related individuals and organizations, based on the investigation results.

Today, May 11, VNI Aviation Insurance Company experts came to HCM City to collect data and define the losses caused by this incident.

In late 2009, an aircraft of Jetstar Pacific was hit by a fuel truck of Vinapco at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport.

PV