Passengers onboard a Delta flight From Mexico were forced to evacuate their plane when a fire broke out onboard shortly after landing. The Airbus A321Neo aircraft began smoldering just after it touched down in Seattle, but no injuries have been reported as a result of the blaze.
The two-year-old Airbus A321Neo had just completed the six-hour flight from Cancun in Mexico to Seattle’s Tacoma International Airport, reports the Independent. After touching down in America, smoke began filling the cabin and video footage shared online shows bright lights erupting from the nose of the plane.
After the fire was discovered, crews onboard the plane deployed the evacuation slides “out of an abundance of caution,” Delta told USA Today. The airline reports that everyone onboard the plane was safely evacuated and made it into the terminal building at Seattle. As USA Today reports:
“During deplaning on the evening of May 6, the crew of Flight 604 from Cancun to Seattle witnessed smoke in the aircraft nose area after plugging into ground electrical power. Out of an abundance of caution, slides were deployed and passengers still on board deplaned via the rear of the aircraft,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement to USA TODAY.
“Passengers were fully evacuated, and those deplaned to the ramp returned to the terminal via the ramp stairs. All passengers exited to customs in the International Arrivals Facility for regular processing. The aircraft has been removed from service for inspection and maintenance.”
Investigators looking into the fire are focusing their efforts on the electrical cord that was plugged into the nose of the plane and do not believe there to be an issue with the aircraft itself.
In video footage caught on CCTV cameras at the airport, passengers from the plane can be seen clambering out the plane over the wings and running from the back of the aircraft. Another thing you might spot in the crowds fleeing the scene is that many of them are carrying belongings with them as they shoot down evacuation slides.
This is, of course, in contradiction to the safety information we’re all given at the start of every flight. During the briefing, crews always tell passengers to leave everything behind when evacuating an aircraft as things like backpacks, laptops and hat boxes can all slow down the evacuation efforts.
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