Four injured as British plane slams into building--A BRITISH Airways aeroplane carrying 202 people struck an office building at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport with its wing while taxiing for takeoff, slightly injuring four people, aviation authorities say.

The Boeing 747-400 en route for London Heathrow Airporton Sunday night took a runway that was too narrow for the plane, said South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokeswoman Phindiwe Gwebu today.

“This resulted in the aircraft’s right-hand wing impacting the office building,” she told AFP.

The control tower “told them to take one taxiway and they took another one. They took a wrong one,” said Gwebu.

Passenger John Hart told the BBC: “We were just taxiing along and then boom!”

He said the captain described it as a “little incident” but everyone on the right-hand side of the plane could see what had happened.

Four people inside the building were lightly injured, but the 185 passengers and 17 crew on board were unharmed during the late-night accident, according to the CAA.
“Four ground-handling employees who were in the building at the time experienced minor injuries,” Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said in a statement.

A photo taken by a passenger from the cabin showed the aircraft’s giant wing wedged into a quarter of the length of the small building.

Harriet Tolputt, head of media for international humanitarian organisation Oxfam, posted the pictures to Twitter.

“BA plane crashes into building at J Burg airport. No one injured only the pilot’s pride,” she posted, complaining that first-class passengers were evacuated before the rest.

The stuck plane had still not been able to take off by Monday morning. All the passengers were taken to a nearby hotel, according to ACSA.