A passenger aircraft caught fire before takeoff at Gimhae International Airport late Tuesday, but fortunately, all 176 individuals on board were evacuated safely, according to officials.
The Airbus, operated by Air Busan, was set to depart for Hong Kong when flames erupted from its rear section at Gimhae International Airport in the southeast, as stated by the Korean Transport Ministry.
The evacuation involved 169 passengers, six crew members, and one engineer, who all used an escape slide to exit the aircraft, the ministry reported.
The National Fire Agency noted that three individuals sustained minor injuries during the evacuation process. The fire was fully extinguished by 11:31 p.m., approximately one hour after firefighters and fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.
The cause of the fire remains unclear. The Transport Ministry identified the aircraft as an A321 model.
This incident occurred just a month after a tragic crash involving a Jeju Air passenger plane at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, which resulted in the deaths of all but two of the 181 people on board. It marked one of the most devastating events in South Korea’s aviation history.
The Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runway on December 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy, colliding with a concrete structure and igniting. The flight was returning from Bangkok, and all victims were South Korean, except for two Thai nationals.
A preliminary report released on Monday indicated that authorities have found evidence of bird strikes in the plane’s engines, although the exact cause of the accident has yet to be determined.
