(Bloomberg) -- An Asiana Airlines Inc. plane crash-landed shortof the runway amid rains at Hiroshima Airport in Japan, injuring 27passengers in its first accident since a crash landing in SanFrancisco almost two years ago.

The plane flew so low that the tail section of the Airbus GroupNV A320 hit landing system devices placed 330 meters (361 yards)from the end of the runway, Noritoshi Goda, an official at thetransport ministry’s aviation bureau, said by phone. The plane thenveered off the runway, causing the landing gear to collapse andleaving both wings and the left engine damaged, the transportministry said.

More safety problems for Asiana after plane clips towers onlanding, skids off runway in Japan http://t.co/YtbVYHqrfB pic.twitter.com/EGJi4a7ZLD

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— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) April15, 2015

Tuesday night’s accident echoed the July 2013 Asiana crash atSan Francisco International Airport, when a wide-body Boeing Co.777 hit a seawall before reaching the runway, killing three people.The pilots mismanaged that approach, flying too low and slow andthen failing to abort the touchdown, U.S. investigators said in areport last year.

In Tuesday’s crash, the single-aisle jet was carrying 73passengers, two pilots, five crew members and one engineer when itlanded at about 8:05 p.m. Tokyo time, the Seoul-based airline saidin a statement. The injured passengers were sent to localhospitals.

Shares of Asiana fell 4% Wednesday at the close of trading inSeoul, trimming the gains this year to 19%.

ILS Landing

The cause of the accident hasn’t yet been determined. An Airbusspokesman in Toulouse, France, said the manufacturer is ready tooffer assistance.

Heavy fog and clouds often are present at this time of the yearin Hiroshima and the aerodrome is equipped with a category-3instrument landing system, or ILS, Kyodo News agency reported.That’s a ground-based instrument approach system that providesprecise lateral and vertical guidance to a plane approaching andlanding on a runway using radio signals.

The ILS facilities are located at the east of the runway inHiroshima, requiring planes to descend from the west, according toKondo Masao, an official in the flight control division of thetransport ministry’s Aviation Bureau. The Asiana jet may haveapproached the runway from the east, an entry against the wind thatthat isn’t supported by the ILS, Kondo said.

The landing devices that the plane hit were about six meterstall, and descending aircraft usually keep to a height of about 30meters at that spot to avoid hitting them. The Asiana jet wasflying lower than that, causing contact, said Takeshi Endo,director of the ministry’s Air Transport Safety unit.

Rains

The pilots lowered the altitude manually using signals fromsatellite when the plane approached Hiroshima Airport, Mainichireported, citing the transport ministry. Visibility may have beenbad due to the rain, and the plane descended early, the reportsaid.

There were thunderstorms and rainfall in the area at the timethe plane landed, according to the Flightaware website. Passengerswere evacuated using escape chutes, and the plane didn’t catchfire, according to the transport ministry.

The captain of the A320 plane had 8,233 flying hours and theco-pilot had 1,583 hours, according to Asiana. It didn’t say whichone was in control when the plane landed.

South Korea’s government on Wednesday told Asiana to step upsimulator training for its A320 pilots and ordered all localairlines to strengthen safety checks, the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

Pilot Training

Since the 2013 San Francisco accident, Asiana said it hadstrengthened pilot training, appointed a new chief executiveofficer and hired an official to oversee safety. Pilot errors,insufficient training and confusion about the plane’s automatedcontrols contributed to the San Francisco crash, U.S. investigatorsconcluded last year.

The airline said Wednesday it would further step up managementand monitoring of safety procedures after the Hiroshimaaccident.

The accident in Japan was the fourth incident involving anAirbus plane since December, including the crashes of a Germanwingsflight in France last month and an AirAsia Bhd. plane in Indonesialate last year.

The plane, which was delivered in October 2007, sustained damageto its left horizontal stabilizer, an engine cover and the rear ofthe fuselage, according to Takuya Nakayama, a transport ministryofficial. The airport’s radio facility also was damaged, he saidlast night.

Japan’s transportation safety board will lead the investigation,Nakayama said by telephone.

Japan Airlines Co. and ANA Holdings Inc. cancelled at least 40flights Wednesday as Hiroshima Airport remained closed after theaccident. It’s not clear when the airport will reopen or when thedamaged plane will be removed, the transport ministry’s Endo saidin a press briefing.

Of the 73 passengers, 46 were from Japan, nine from China, eightfrom South Korea and two each from Canada, Sweden and the U.S.There was one each from the Philippines, Russia, Vietnam andSingapore, Asiana said in a statement.

--With assistance from Andrea Rothman in Toulouse, JulieJohnsson in Chicago, Edward Dufner in Dallas and Yusuke Miyazawa inTokyo.

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