A British Airways Boeing 777 bound for London caught fire on the runway at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, forcing an emergency evacuation.
All 159 passengers and 13 crew escaped from the aircraft via emergency slides; two were treated for minor injuries.
MORE: Minor injuries reported after plane fire at @LASairport; cause under investigation http://t.co/FQ3xsOpqXr pic.twitter.com/n8qrcVJgNm
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BA Flight 2276 was about to take off on the 10-hour flight to London Gatwick when the 275-seat plane suffered an engine failure. Footage and photographs from the scene showed the aircraft, a B777-200, engulfed in smoke. One of the airport’s four runways was out of service following the fire, which began at approximately 4.22pm local time, airport officials said.
Reggie Bagmancher, of Philadelphia, said she was charging her phone and waiting at a gate for her flight when she heard people saying, "Oh, my God." 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," Bagmancher 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.
The damaged aircraft on the runway at McCarren International Airport (AP)
Firefighters stationed at the airport reached the plane two minutes after getting reports of flames, and within another three minutes, everyone inside the plane had escaped.
After firefighters extinguished the flames, emergency vehicles could be seen surrounding the aircraft, which was left a sooty gray from the smoke and fire retardant.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the plane's left engine caught fire and an investigation was under way. The National Transportation Safety Board was collecting information about the incident, said Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the agency in Washington.
Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Jon Klassen said the cause of the fire wasn't clear yet, but the fire didn't appear to breach the cabin.
Additional reporting by AP
