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Flights resume at Istanbul airport after crash kills 3

ISTANBUL (AP) — Flights resumed today at an Istanbul airport after a Turkish airliner skidded off a runway, killing three people and injuring 180 others.

Sabiha Gokcen Airport restarted operations at around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) though delays and cancellations continued.

On Wednesday evening, a Boeing 737 operated by low-cost Pegasus Airline landed from Izmir on Turkey’s western coast during strong winds and heavy rain and overshot the runway. It skidded about 165 to 200 feet before it dropped into the ditch from a height of about 98 feet, according to the city’s governor, Ali Yerlikaya.

The plane, carrying 177 passengers and six crew members, broke up into three parts upon impact. The plane was 11 years old, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

Yerlikaya, speaking early today, said all those injured were stable and four people had significant injuries, but he didn’t give details on how severe they were. The passengers included 22 people from 12 countries.

Pegasus Airlines changed its logo on Twitter to a blackened version in a sign of mourning, and said its “priority is to support the relatives and friends who have lost loved ones.” The company is majority-owned by Turkish billionaire Sevket Sabanci.

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