Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A
China Airlines plane with 157 passengers on board caught fire after its left engine exploded at Naha airport in Okinawa, Japan, a popular beach resort. The passengers and crew were evacuated safely, the Taipei-based airline said.
The engine of the Boeing Co. 737-800 caught fire at about 10:35 a.m., after the plane had landed, according to Japan's transport ministry. Terrorism was ruled out as a cause, said Johnson Sun, a China Air spokesman.
Flames and smoke billowed from the aircraft's broken fuselage, leaving the nose resting on its side. The fire caused a gaping hole in the plane's roof. Firefighters extinguished the blaze by 11:37 a.m. by spraying foam on the aircraft.
The crew was told by ground staff that the plane was on fire after docking at the gate, China Air's Sun said on Formosa Television. Taiwan's government ordered the airline to examine all of its 737-800's said Billy Chang, director general of the country's Civil Aeronautics Administration, speaking on Formosa Television.
No problems were reported between takeoff and landing, said China Air's Sun. Naha airport was temporarily shut after the fire and reopened at 11:03 a.m., said Soichi Yatsugi, a spokesman at Japan Airlines Corp.
Two of the eight crewmembers were taken to hospital, the Japanese transport ministry said. The plane, Flight 120, took off from Taipei at 8:15 a.m., carrying 23 Japanese passengers and one Japanese crewmember, the ministry added.
Was watching some news coverage on NHK earlier today, and the images/video they were showing were absolutely frightening. Glad to hear that everyone made it safely off the plane.
