Las Vegas Plane Fire: 27 Injured As British Airways Jet Catches Fire Heading Into Takeoff
A Las Vegas plane fire on Tuesday left 27 people injured, and the National Transportation Safety Board has started an inquiry into the incident. The British Airways jet was departing McCarran Airport in Nevada and heading to London when the fire occurred.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Las Vegas plane fire happened when the plane was about to take off, and the left engine caught fire. The takeoff was immediately canceled, and the passengers had to use the emergency slides to get off of the plane. There were 13 crew members and just under 160 passengers on the Boeing 777 at the time of the incident.
Yahoo! News details that the call from the tower to emergency personnel came at 4:13 p.m., and the fire was extinguished by 4:18. Despite the quick response, there were 27 people injured. Reports indicate that the majority of the injuries were minor, with people receiving scrapes, bruises, and cuts from the evacuation slide. There were some minor burns, and two people were seen for complaints of smoke inhalation.
All 27 people who were reportedly injured were taken to Sunrise Hospital, Yahoo! News indicates. However, no significant injuries were reported. All of the injured people were released from the hospital by Tuesday evening.
The other passengers from the flight were all taken to hotels, and the runway was closed for approximately eight hours. As for the cause of the Las Vegas plane fire, authorities have not released any details on that front as of yet. Boeing indicates that they are working with the NTSB in the early stages of this investigation to try to determine what happened.
Video of the Las Vegas plane fire shows dark black smoke billowing from the jet on the runway. Though the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, reports indicate that the fire never reached the cabin itself. Passengers describe a chaotic scene as the jet suddenly halted, and everybody scrambled to get down the evacuation slides.
As was previously reported by the Inquisitr, word of the Las Vegas plane fire spread like wildfire across Twitter on Tuesday. Passengers described the frightening moments as they rushed to exit the plane, and many pondered what would have happened had the pilot discovered the issue a few moments later.
Luckily, all of the injuries related to the Las Vegas plane fire were minor, and the incident happened prior to the jet heading out over the water. Many will be quite curious to see what the NTSB investigation determines regarding the cause for the British Airways jet fire.
[Photo via Chris Parypa Photography / Shutterstock.com]
