Vietnamese plane touches down on wrong runway

Aviation authorities are investigating why a Vietnam Airlines plane landed on the wrong runway in Khanh Hoa province on Sunday.

The VN7344 plane, which was carrying 203 passengers, took off at 2 p.m. on Sunday from Ho Chi Minh City, and was scheduled to land at Cam Ranh Airport at about 3 p.m. the same day.

Instead, the plane landed on an unauthorized runway at 2.53 p.m.

The mistake was due to a lack of clear signs to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized runways at the airport, said a Vietnam Airlines representative, as reported by local newspaper Doisongphapluat.

“All passengers landed safely,” said the representative.

Weather conditions were optimal and all systems were fully functional at the point of landing, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

The incident has prompted the CAAV to suspend the crew of seven, including the U.S. captain, and operators responsible for the landing.

The investigation is ongoing.