Boeing 777 plane ctaches fire on Las Vegas runway

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor reported that the plane’s left engine had caught fire.

A British Airways plane preparing to take off from Las Vegas’ McCarran worldwide Airport aborted its takeoff on Tuesday night and caught fire.

Black smoke billowed from the left engine of the plane as passengers scurried across the tarmac. Reports indicate that the majority of the injuries were minor, with people receiving scrapes, bruises, and cuts from the evacuation slide.

Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Jon Klassen said the cause of the fire was not clear yet, but the fire did not appear to have breached the cabin.

The plane was also carrying 159 passengers and a crew with 13 personnel and was bound for Gatwick in London. A later BA statement said that all passengers had been released from hospital. The takeoff was immediately canceled, and the passengers had to use the emergency slides to get off of the plane.

Frank Brehany, consumer director of watchdog, Holiday Travel Watch, said: “Scenes of passengers coming off the aircraft, with hand-baggage, really suggests that as consumers, we ought to invest time in listening to flight safety announcements”.

The Boeing 777 was taxiing towards the runway at McCarran Airport and travelling at 90mph when smoke began to fill the plane.

One passenger, Claire Corrigan, said: “People just ran as they were scared the plane had a full fuel-load”.

“Two were transported for minor injuries”.

“We were all glued to the side of the plane watching this unfold”, he said of fellow passengers on his flight.

Vassiliadis said the airplane was towed to a parking area at the airport, where NTSB investigators can inspect it.

The pilot brought the plane to an emergency stop after flames engulfed the engine.

Several passengers on a burning British Airways flight have raised a few eyebrows after stopping to pick up luggage during the emergency.

“Mayday, Mayday… we have a fire, I repeat, we are evacuating”, the pilot can be heard saying in a hurried back-and-forth with the airport tower, according to audio made public Wednesday on a website that archives air trafic control recordings.

McCarren is the ninth busiest airport in the United States. The airport has been taking steps to accommodate more worldwide travellers seeking direct flights to Europe and Asia, including adding new gates to accommodate wide-body double-decker jets.