Air Koryo Flight Makes Emergency Landing at SHE

The flight, en-route to Beijing from Pyongyang, was forced to divert to Shenyang when smoke filled the cabin.

An on-board fire forced a Beijing-bound Air Koryo flight to make an emergency landing in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang on Friday morning.

Flight JS 151, operated by North Korea’s flag carrier, had set off from the country’s capital of Pyongyang earlier in the day.

The cause of the fire has not been revealed, but Reuters has reported on the incident via Chinese news agency Xinhua, which has said that a passenger on the plane reported that smoke appeared on-board approximately 30 minutes into the flight.

According to the agency, “…oxygen masks dropped and several passengers began to have breathing difficult[ies] because of the oxygen shortage in the cabin.”

The crew of the Tupolev TU204-300 reportedly told passengers to remain calm as the plane made its unscheduled descent into Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (SHE).

The flight landed safely at approximately 9 a.m. local time and fire crews were dispatched to SHE as a precautionary measure. The plane was still smoking upon being inspected by ground staff, but the cause of the fire was not ascertained. It is believed that wet weather in Shenyang may have helped to smother any lingering flames.

Both airport authorities at SHE and Xinhua confirmed that no passengers were injured during the incident.

When asked for comment by Xinhua, Reuters reported that a member of staff at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport (FNJ) told the agency that the aircraft had suffered a “malfunction.”

Reuters attempted to contact Air Koryo for further information, but a Shanghai-based employee of the state-owned airline said that no representatives were available for further comment.

Air Koryo’s current fleet is a mix of Russian-built Tupolevs and older, Soviet-era aircraft. At present, it holds a single star rating from Skytrax for its poor quality standards.

[Image: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]