British Airways passengers have told of their horror after escaping on emergency slides when an engine fire broke out on a London-bound jet as it prepared to take off from Las Vegas.
Billowing black smoke and orange flames could be seen pouring from under the plane's wings at McCarran International Airport in Nevada, sending passengers fleeing from the aircraft and across the tarmac before about 50 firefighters brought the blaze under control.
Read more: 'We thought it was going to explode': Plane fire passenger describes 'massive bang' moments before take off
All 159 passengers and 13 crew members aboard British Airways Flight 2276 were able to get off the plane, McCarran International Airport spokesman Chris Jones said.
14 people were taken to Sunrise Hospital for minor injuries.
Alex Crimmens was set to jet back to the UK after holidaying in California with pals when the Boeing 777 blaze broke out.
The 29-year-old, from Newcastle, told the Mirror: "Everything was fine before takeoff, other than we just seemed to be on the runway for longer than usual.
"Eventually we got going and I was sat on the left of the plane by a window, just by the wing.
"Then I just heard a massive bang. People were understandably nervous, and then all of sudden I could hardly see out of my window because of all this smoke.
"We were travelling at the speed you'd expect a plane to be taking off at, so it was alarming.
"Then you could begin to see the flames coming through - you could feel the heat so I moved further into the middle of the plane.
"That is when all the staff on board realised what was happening. They told everyone to keep calm and the pilot then informed us we were going to have to evacuate.
"Obviously people were worried, and in everyone's mind there's the fear that we've got a plane with smoke and flames and it's full of fuel - we thought it could explode."
The Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights to Las Vegas from some airports for more than two hours after the fire to slow the flow of planes while the disabled Boeing 777 made two of the airport's four runways inaccessible.
One of the runways reopened two and a half hours after the fire.
Passenger Reggie Bugmuncher, of Philadelphia said she was charging her phone and waiting at a gate for her flight when she heard people calling out in alarm.
She looked out the window and could see "bursts of flames coming out of the middle of the plane".
Everyone ran to the windows and people were standing on their chairs, looking out, holding their breath with their hands over their mouths," Ms Bugmuncher said.
The plane's emergency slides were deployed a few moments later and passengers quickly got off the plane.
She said it was a "bit more orderly" than she would have expected, given the dramatic nature of the fire and smoke.
Uk Mirror
No comments:
Post a Comment