33 hurt as Azores plane avoids collision

Thirty-three TAP-Air Portugal passengers and crew were slightly injured when the plane made a hasty manoeuvre to avoid a mid-air collision just before landing on an island in The Azores yesterday, TAP said.

None of the injuries to the 31 passengers and two crew members were serious, the state-owned airline said.

The incident happened at the airport at Lages US Air Force base, TAP said in a statement.

The Airbus A-310 carrying 133 passengers was flying from Lisbon to Terceira, an Atlantic Ocean island that is part of the Portuguese archipelago the Azores.

The plane was beginning its landing about 9:40 a.m. (0840 GMT) when the captain quickly dropped to a lower altitude to avoid hitting another plane, the statement said. A TAP spokeswoman said she did not have any details on the other plane.

"The fact that many passengers did not have seat belts on at that time led to the injuries," a TAP statement said. All of the passengers were taken to a hospital.

Some of the injured had been released from the hospital by afternoon, a TAP spokeswoman said.