A Papua New Guinean plane sank in a lagoon after overshooting the runway in the Federated States of Micronesia. All passengers were reportedly rescued safely from Air Niugini’s partially submerged Boeing 737-800 after local fishers took their boats out to the crash site almost immediately. Videos showed dozens of people in boats around the wreckage.

Locals reported broken bones among the injuries after the flight came in very low for landing and ended up in the water. Flight 73 operates between Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia and Port Moresby, stopping in Chuuk State. Various reports said up to 57 people were on board, including 11 crew and between 36 and 46 passengers; evacuees were taken to hospital.

The aircraft is believed to be a 13-year-old Boeing 737-800 previously operated by Jet Airways and Air India Express. It had been involved in a collision at Port Moresby in May, when a cargo plane clipped its wing while turning, according to Papua New Guinea’s Accident Investigation Commission. The Air Niugini plane that landed in the ocean appears to be Flight PX073, which was scheduled to fly Pohnpei–Chuuk–Port Moresby. Photos show small boats conducting rescues. Matthew Colson, a Baptist missionary on the island, said it had been raining but was not windy when the plane landed. Colson, who has lived on the island most of his life and runs a radio station, spoke with residents and officials in the aftermath. Passengers included a small number of locals alongside predominantly US and Australian passengers, he said. The plane crashed into the water near a market where fishers had come to sell their catch. "They just went straight out there and started hauling people to shore," Colson said. Air Niugini had only recently begun flying that route with larger Boeing planes, Colson said. "United is mostly the only airline that comes out here, and it's been that way for years … There are flights every day but this has never happened before. Mainly because this route is considered one of United's hardest routes for the 737, so they … send their best pilots out here for the island hopper." Colson also interviewed one of the passengers, Bill Jaynes, a journalist based in Pohnpei. "It was surreal," Jaynes said in a video posted to Facebook. "I thought we had just landed hard until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water coming in, and thought, 'This is not the way it's supposed to happen.'

"We came in low, very low. Unfortunately the flight attendants panicked and started yelling. I was trying to be calm and help as much as I could."

Jayne said he wasn't seriously hurt, but there were "pretty severe injuries" among other passengers. "I was really impressed with the locals who immediately came out in boats. One might think they'd be afraid to approach a plane that had just crashed, but they were awesome."

Colson told Guardian Australia that there were some broken limbs and head injuries among passengers, who were not braced for impact. John Merelli, an employee at the High Tide hotel near the end of the runway, said he heard the plane coming in but thought it was a normal landing. He went back to work, someone told him, and from the rooftop he saw the plane starting to go underwater. "It was sinking," he said. "It's underwater now." He added that ordinary people in boats were the first rescuers, arriving in around five minutes, while officials took about 10 minutes.

Another employee said the runway was known to be very short. Ethan Klapper reported that an Air Niugini 737 overran the runway at Weno Airport (TKK) in Chuuk, Micronesia. The runway is 6,013 feet long, relatively short for an airport with airline service. A flotilla of small boats rescued all 47 passengers and crew after the aircraft landed in water on Friday morning. Flight 73 was stopping over at Weno on its way from Pohnpei to Port Moresby when the incident occurred. A reporter who flew into the airport in July noted how hard the braking is on landing. "It was supposed to land but instead of landing it was 150 yards (135 metres) short and she went down," Jimmy Emilio, general manager of Chuuk Airport, told Reuters.