A British Airways plane caught fire on Tuesday as it was preparing to take off from Las Vegas, forcing the evacuation of 172 people on board on emergency slides.
“There were 159 passengers and 13 crew on the flight,” McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas said.
It added that seven people on board were treated for minor injuries.
US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Ian Gregor, said the fire broke out in the left engine of the 257-seat Boeing 777 shortly after 4:00 pm and the crew immediately aborted take off and ordered an evacuation.
“Passengers deplaned on the runway using emergency slides and (were) bused to the terminal.
“The aircraft, a 777-200 experienced a technical issue as it was preparing for take off from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas” heading for London, ,Gregor said.
British Airways, which said there were two fewer passengers on board, also described the cause of the fire as being due to a “technical issue.”
“Our crew evacuated the aircraft safely and the fire was quickly extinguished by the emergency services at the airport. A small number of customers and our crew have been taken to hospital as a precaution,” company statement said.
Comments
Post a Comment