A Tibet Airlines jet caught fire moments before it was scheduled to lift off on Thursday at an airport in China’s Chongqing city, causing injury to more than 40 passengers as they evacuated the aircraft, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The aviation accident took place at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport on the morning of May 12 and caused no deaths among the plane’s 113 passengers and nine crew members. The 40-plus people wounded while evacuating the airplane were treated for minor injuries, such as bruises and sprains, at a local hospital on Thursday according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
CAAC detailed the incident in a statement, revealing the “[jet’s] pilots had interrupted the takeoff in line with procedures after experiencing an abnormality … leading to an engine scrape and fire after the plane veered off the runway.”
“Emergency plans were activated and investigators rushed to the scene,” the Chinese state aviation regulator added.
Tibet Airlines, which is a subsidiary of Air China, owns and manages the airplane in question. The Airbus A319 was preparing to depart Chongqing for Nyingchi, Tibet, around 8:00 am on May 12 when it experienced an unspecified malfunction that caused it to drive off the runway and become damaged in the process.
Reuters on Thursday relayed an alleged eyewitness account of the incident by a passenger identified in Chinese media only as “Mr A.” The man said the cabin shook with a sudden “vibration” and, moments later, “oxygen masks lowered before the plane made an unusual sound and veered off the runway.”
“Crew members noticed that fuel oil was leaking and started evacuating passengers down slides,” Mr. A said.
After a fire broke out on the plane, passengers were forced to abort the slide evacuations and desperately jump from the jet onto the ground below. The witness said he jumped to safety and suffered injuries to his back and legs in the process.
The doomed Airbus A319 had flown with Tibet Airlines for nearly a decade before its failed liftoff on May 12. Tibet Airlines is a regional airline based in Lhasa, which is the capital of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. The airline operates a fleet of 39 jets, including 28 A319s. A joint venture between the U.S.-based General Electric (GE) and the French aircraft manufacturer Safran (known as CFM International) produces engines for the A319.
Thursday’s mishap in Chongqing marked the second major aviation accident in China within the past two months. A China Eastern Airlines jet (specifically a Boeing 737-800) crashed into a mountainside in southern China’s Guangxi region on March 21 killing all 132 people on board. CAAC launched sector-wide inspections in the wake of the March 21 accident with the aim of identifying potential safety lapses. A preliminary investigation into the incident has yet to provide a cause for the crash, which was China’s deadliest air disaster since 1994.
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