Chinese jet aborts take-off, catches fire, causing minor injuries from evacuation

BEIJING • China's Tibet Airlines said all passengers and crew had been evacuated from an Airbus A319 plane that caught fire after an aborted take-off in the south-western city of Chongqing yesterday.

There were no deaths and only minor injuries among the 113 passengers and nine crew members, the airline said in a statement.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said 36 people suffered bruises and sprains during the evacuation of Flight TV9833 and were sent to local hospitals for examination.

The pilots had interrupted the take-off in line with procedures after experiencing an abnormality, CAAC said in a statement, 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 regulator added.

The incident came less than two months after the deadly crash of a China Eastern Airlines plane led the CAAC to launch sector-wide inspections to find potential safety lapses.

An unverified video on social media shows a Tibet Airlines plane, a subsidiary of Air China, with heavy smoke and flames pouring from the left side of the aircraft as passengers and crew ran away.

A passenger identified as Mr A in Chinese media said there was a sudden vibration and oxygen masks were lowered before the plane made an unusual sound and veered off the runway.

Crew members noticed that fuel was leaking and started evacuating passengers down slides, Mr A said.

Fire soon broke out, forcing him and some other passengers to jump from the aircraft, he said, adding that he injured his back and legs.

Unverified photos on social media show both engines separated from the airframe as well as a major crack in the rear fuselage and damage to the right wing.

The plane involved is a nine-year-old A319, one of the smallest versions of the A320 family.

It is powered by CFM56 engines from CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran, according to Airfleets.net.

Airbus said it was making all efforts to assess the situation.

Tibet Airlines is a regional airline based in Lhasa. It has a fleet of 39 planes, including 28 A319s, according to Airfleets.net.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, China was one of the world's fastest growing markets for aviation, measured by passenger traffic, during the past decade.

REUTERS