An investigation has been launched after terrified passengers were forced to flee a plane before takeoff after reportedly being informed by flight attendants that it could explode at any moment.
The panic was caught on camera at the Marechal Rondon International Airport, which serves the city of Cuiaba in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, at around 2am local time on 25th November.
Azul Brazilian Airlines Flight 2751 was due to leave Cuiaba and arrive in Sao Paulo at 5.05am. However, the plane never made it off the tarmac.
According to passengers, as reported by the news site G1, they were informed that the plane, an Airbus 320, could explode due to an electrical fault and were instructed to immediately leave by the emergency exit.
Footage shows passengers running from the cabin and fleeing down the evacuation slide onto the tarmac before running clear of the plane.
Reports said there were 132 passengers onboard and nine people were injured evacuating the plane.
The flight was cancelled and some passengers were offered alternative flights, according to G1.
Passenger Wenderson Campos said there was a sudden brake and a flight attendant shouted for everyone to leave the aircraft.
He described the scene: "The flight attendant appeared screaming, ordering everyone to exit through the emergency exit. People started pushing and I was with a child. Everyone went down the slide.
"I left with my baby and went back to get my wife because she fell and hurt herself. Another woman broke her foot and a pregnant woman had a bad experience."
Passenger Juliana Amorim said: "Flight attendants started saying the plane was going to blow up, that we needed to evacuate the plane, and that it was urgent.
"I don't know how many people got out in front of me, but I managed to leave, thank God, without any injury.
"I went down the slide and saw a lot of injured people. When I went down the slide, the engine was on and it was so windy that people were being knocked over."
The airline said in a statement: "Customers evacuated the aircraft via the plane's emergency exits. Azul would like to emphasise that we are providing all the necessary support to customers, and regret what happened."
The airline added that the takeoff was aborted after a failure was identified and the captain followed emergency protocol for this type of situation.
An investigative team launched a probe at 8am on Thursday to identify the cause of the electrical failure.
