United Airlines jet strikes light pole and delivery truck while landing in US

A Boeing 767 passenger aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport. Photo / File, Bloomberg via Getty Images

A United Airlines plane has hit a lamp post and a delivery truck on a New Jersey highway while landing at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials said the Boeing 767 landed safely after arriving from Venice, Italy, and the agency would investigate the incident.

No injuries were reported on the plane, and the truck driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement

The jet was carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members.

In a statement, the FAA said: “While on approach to land at Newark Liberty International Airport, United Airlines Flight 169 struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike around 2pm local time on Sunday, May 3.”

The Port Authority said in a statement that the plane caused “damage to a light post and a tractor trailer traveling south on the NJ Turnpike”.

The truck “was unscathed” but “the wheel of the commercial plane crashed into the driver’s window,” according to Chuck Paterakis, a senior vice president for the company, who added “the truck driver suffered small cuts from the incident”.

United Airlines said in a statement it plans to “conduct a rigorous flight safety investigation into the incident and our crew has been removed from service as part of this process.”

New Jersey State Police, who responded to the highway incident, and aircraft manufacturer Boeing did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.

- AFP