Plane skids off runway in Istanbul, shutting airport

Arrivals and departures are currently cancelled

A plane skidded off the runway in Istanbul in heavy rain.

The incident, involving a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, has temporarily shut the airport. All departures and arrivals, both international and domestic, have been cancelled.

The Pegasus Airlines flight was en route from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul when it slid off the runway.

The low-cost Turkish airline said that an aircraft had “experienced a runway excursion”.

Footage of the plane shows that the emergency slides were deployed. It's understood that nobody was injured.

An investigation is underway, said Pegasus.

A statement from the general manager of Turkish Airlines, Bilal Eksi, said that Turkish Airlines flights to and from Sabiha Gokcen airport would be cancelled until 3pm local time (12pm GMT).

At least 10 flights have been diverted to Ankara, and a handful to the new Istanbul Airport and one to Antalya.

Istanbul has been plagued by heavy rain for the past two days, which has affected transport in the city.