Passengers injured as Chinese jet catches fire during takeoff
A Tibet Airlines flight was headed from western China to Tibet’s Nyingchi city.
A Tibet Airlines plane on Thursday caught fire after it veered off the runway at the Chongqing airport in China, Reuters reported.
All passengers and the crew were safely evacuated. However, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that 36 persons suffered minor injuries during the evacuation.
The airline in a statement said that the flight, which was carrying 113 passengers and nine crew members, was headed to Tibet’s Nyingchi city, according to AFP.
It added that the pilots had stopped the takeoff after experiencing an abnormality, leading to an engine scrape and fire after the plane had veered off the runway.
Videos shared on social media showed the front part of the plane engulfed in flames and enveloped by thick black smoke.
The incident came two weeks after a Boeing 737 plane carrying 132 passengers and operated by China Eastern Airlines crashed in the rural locality near Wuzhou city of the Guangxi region.
There was no sign of any survivors from the crash. This is one of the worst aeroplane crashes in China in 30 years.
One of the flight recorders from the aircraft was recovered on March 23. The recorder is reported to be badly damaged. Authorities are yet to find the second black box from the plane.