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19 March 2024

Passengers recall terrifying moments: ‘Plane screeched to a halt after blast’

Smokes rises from a plane of Korean Air Lines at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)

Published
By AFP

Passengers of a Korean Air plane recalled the terrifying moment one of the aircraft's twin engines caught fire as it was gaining speed for take-off at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

All 302 passengers and 17 crew members were evacuated safely from the Korean Air Boeing 777 on Friday, escaping down the plane's inflatable emergency evacuation slides onto the runway.

"As the plane was picking up speed to take off, there was a bang and I saw a plume of black smoke rising from the wing," Keum Min-Woo, 34, told journalists after the passengers arrived in Seoul on an alternative flight late Friday.

Crew members calmly led passengers into safety, Keum said.

Another passenger Hwang Kyung-Tae, 59, said the plane screeched to a halt after the explosion.

"A minute passed and we were told to evacuate. If the plane had taken off several minutes earlier, we all would have died," said Hwang.

Kim Byung-Jin, 47, had a bandage over his forehead from a cut he suffered when he bumped into another passenger as they were coming down an evacuation slide.

TV footage aired Friday showed the plane, which was bound for South Korea's Gimpo International, surrounded by red fire trucks and with the area around its left wing doused in foam.

The South Korean transport ministry sent a team of investigators to Japan on Friday to assist the local authorities in determining the cause of the accident.

The plane had been in service for 15 years and the troubled engine was installed a year and a half ago, a Korean Air official said.


EARLIER REPORT:

About 300 passengers and crew members were evacuated from a Korean Air Boeing 777 at Tokyo's Haneda airport in dramatic scenes after one of the engines caught fire, officials said Friday.

TV footage from the airport showed the plane, which was bound for South Korea's Gimpo International, surrounded by red fire trucks and with the area around its left wing doused in foam. The plane's inflatable emergency evacuation slides had all been deployed.

"The flight (Boeing 777) had a fire on Engine No.1," a Korean Air spokesman told AFP.

"The plane bound to Kimpo (Gimpo) Airport from Haneda had 302 passengers and 17 crew members on board. (The) fire was apparently put out."

Smoke was seen coming from the plane as it was about to take off at around 00:40 pm (0340 GMT), officials of the Japanese transportation ministry and the airport told AFP.

Passengers and crew were evacuated and there were no reported serious injuries, a fire department official said.

"So far we know that 19 people were (lightly) injured, some of whom said they feel ill," he told AFP.

Dozens of fire engines were deployed to the scene and have almost put out the fire, he said.

Pics: Reuters

Local media said police have so far discovered no information linked to criminality and reported that the airport, which was closed temporarily, would resume operations on three out of four runways.

The accident affected the travel plans of some 50,000 passengers, causing the cancellation of at least 200 flights, NHK reported.