Dania Beach, FL -A passenger plane’s engine caught fire Thursday as it prepared for takeoff, and passengers had to quickly evacuate on the runway using emergency slides, officials said.
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Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said there were “some injuries” but offered no further details. Dozens of passengers could be seen in video footage walking on the runway to the terminal as fire crews rushed to put the blaze out.
It’s not clear how many people were on board the Dynamic Airways flight that was headed to Venezuela from the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. The Boeing 767 was set to take off at 12:45 p.m. for Caracas, Venezuela, when it caught fire, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
Passengers on another plane on the runway recorded the fire and posted video to Twitter showing plumes of thick black smoke coming from the plane.
A pilot in an aircraft taxiing behind the Dynamic Airways plane reported fuel leaking from it before the fire, Bergen said. The fire was centered near the plane’s left engine.
Broward Aviation Department spokesman Allan Siegeo said it was extinguished by rescue teams on site. He said the airport is still operational, and planes were using another runway. Delays were expected.
Dynamic said on its website its Boeing 767s can accommodate up to 250 people.
Dynamic is a small airline that connects Fort Lauderdale, New York, Venezuela and Guyana.
A phone number listed on the airline’s website was answered by a contracted reservation company which said it had no available numbers for the airline.
The National Transportation Safety Board is monitoring the situation and hasn’t yet made a decision on whether to launch an investigation.
Those people are very luck it happened on the ground before take off.
The aircraft involved in this incident (Boeing 767) was almost 30 years old; an aircraft that old, is an accident waiting to happen. When one boards a commercial aircraft, they are not privy to the age of the particular aircraft, or to the maintenance history. Such details only come out, after an incident and/or an accident. Also, one has no way of knowing if any hazardous cargo is being transported in the cargo compartment. Incidentally, how are elderly and disabled passengers supposed to get safely down those escape chutes?