Fire Erupts on China Airlines Jet at Japanese
Airport
A Boeing 737-800 belonging to China Airlines caught fire shortly
after landing Monday at Naha airport on the Japanese island of
Okinawa, two people being injured in the incident.
For unknown reasons one of the engines caught fire while the plane
was taxiing on the runway and exploded several minutes later, but
all passengers were evacuated without suffering injuries.
A crew member was injured as he was trying to get out of the
burning aircraft, one more person belonging to the emergency teams
being also hurt. One of the 157 passengers was taken to the local
hospital after the emergency procedure ended.
The plane left Taipei at 9:23 am and landed on the southern island
at around 10:30 am (0130 GMT), passengers saying an explosion was
heard before the left engine bursted into flames minutes after
landing. According to authorities, three burning points were
located and the fire was contained after an hour.
Among the Taiwanese tourists, there were also 23 Japanese nationals
and 24 people of other nationalities on board Flight 120. Eight
crew members were on the Boeing 737-800.
The airline assured the passengers they will receive compensatory
pay for their baggage that was burned, while teams of experts from
Taiwan and Japan will asses the damages and investigate the
accidents cause.
According to a China Airlines official, the aircraft didnt skip
any verification or maintenance session and was operating normal
before Mondays accident occurred. The Boeing 737 is one of the
most popular short to medium range airliners in the world, this
model being delivered to the airline five years ago and since then
it flew 13,666 hours.
China Airlines announced that all of its twelve 737-800s will be
thoroughly checked after this incident, along with three others
also operating in Taiwan.
Thirteen years ago a jet from the same company crashed in Nagoya,
only seven people of the 271 on board surviving the terrible
crash.
