Plane catches on fire with 176 people on board in South Korea
A plane with 176 people on board has caught fire before takeoff in South Korea, just one month after the country’s worst aviation disaster killed 179 people.
A plane with 176 people on board has caught fire at a South Korean airport.
All 169 passengers and seven crew on the Air Busan flight bound for Hong Kong were forced to evacuate down escape slides at Gimhae International Airport after the rear of the Airbus A321 caught fire on Tuesday night before takeoff, authorities said.
South Korea’s Transport Ministry said the plane caught fire at about 10.15pm local time but gave no indication of what started the blaze.
Three people had minor injuries and the fire was completely extinguished by 11:31pm, according to the National Fire Agency.
After the fire was extinguished, pictures showed the entire roof of the fuselage had been burnt.
It comes a month after the deadly Jeju Air disaster in South Korea.
A Boeing 737-800 was arriving at Muan International Airport from Bangkok, Thailand when it crashed with 181 people on board.
There were only two survivors. It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
A bird strike, faulty landing gear and a concrete barrier the plane slammed into on the runway are among possible causes being investigated.
Bird feathers and bloodstains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air plane, according to a preliminary investigation released on Monday.
“The pilots identified a group of birds while approaching runway 01, and a security camera filmed HL8088 coming close to a group of birds during a go-around,” the report said, referring to the Jeju jet’s registration number.
It did not specify whether the engines had stopped working in the moments leading up to the crash.
– with AFP
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