Airbus Engine Catches Fire in Orly, Paris
Eight people were injured when 165 passengers on an Airbus 310 stampeded toward the emergency exists after an engine suddenly caught fire as the plane prepared for takeoff.
Vueling Flight 9127, was preparing to take off from Orly Airport in Paris, France, heading toward Alicante in southeastern Spain when the engine caught fire at 10:36 am, on Wednesday.
“Before getting out, everybody was panicking inside the plane. When people heard about the incident, everybody was pushing each other to get out and eventually everybody went down the emergency slides,” a passenger told Associated Press.
“Jose Luis Casado, a representative of the Spanish carrier Iberia, which owns nearly half of Vueling, said that a ground employee spotted liquid leaking from one of the engines as it was starting. The employee sounded an alert, but the fire broke out soon after.”
The management decided to use the emergency slides to evacuate the passengers, Casado said.
“Of course, it is a very spectacular procedure because we use the emergency slides, we make the usual announcements, asking people to take off their shoes and leave their luggage on board the plane. It’s quite a traumatic experience for the passengers.”
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