An airplane in the United States was hit by a bullet whilst preparing to take off in Dallas, authorities have said.
The United Airlines plane with 99 people on board was preparing to take off at Dallas Love Field Airport in Texas when the bullet struck the “right side of the aircraft under the flight deck”, a Southwest spokesperson told CBS News.
No injuries were reported and the plane made its way back to its gate where passengers disembarked, according to an airport spokesperson.
Dallas Love Field Airport said in a social media post that the Dallas Police Department responded and runway 13R/31L was closed, but reopened later Friday night with “minimal impact” on the facility’s operations.
“Southwest Airlines Flight 2494 was set to depart for Indianapolis when a bullet apparently struck the right side of the plane, just below the flight deck, as the crew was preparing for takeoff,” a Southwest spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Dallas police is leading the investigation into what happened.
A statement released by The Federal Aviation Administration said that the bullet struck close to the cockpit of the Boeing 737-800 Max aircraft.
No details have been released but local radio reported that it is believed that the shots came as part of random gunfire in the area.
The airline confirmed that all passengers will be accommodated until another means of travel can be arranged.
The attack on the Dallas flight comes just two days after two commercial airplanes were struck over Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
The Spirit Airplanes flight is thought to have been shot at as it attempted to land and was subsequently diverted to the Dominican Republic.
One flight attendant was reportedly injured whilst The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned all US planes from flying to the island for the next month.
