An American Airlines Boeing 767 aircraft suffered an engine failure and caught fire right on the runway at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport Friday.
The right side of the plane caught fire after the engine flared up, leading to passengers rushing from that side to the left once they realised what was going on.
Crew members led the panicked passengers through emergency slides affixed to the plane’s exits as the crew on the ground sprung into action to contain the developing inferno. The plane had stopped its attempted take-off well before the end of the runway as the pilots noticed the fire, and luckily the situation was able to be handled without much damage.
20 passengers were found injured after they had been evacuated and were sent to nearby hospitals for treatment – interestingly, none of the injuries was as a result of the fire.
Sarah Ahmed, a passenger on the plane, recounted to the BBC what happened after they discovered the plane was on fire.
“People are yelling, ‘Open the door!, open the door!’ Everyone’s screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door.
“Within that time, I think it was seven seconds, there was smoke in the plane and the fire is right up against the windows and its melting the windows.”
Some passengers were also reportedly struggling to get their luggage from the overhead cabins during the emergency, leading to a screaming match as other furious passengers shouted them down.
There were 161 passengers and nine crew members on the Miami bound flight.
A bystander took a video of the aftermath of the fire as the passengers exited via the slides and posted it online.
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Another video pic.twitter.com/jg58N8x3l8

— Jose Castillo ? (@Kryptonlogic) October 28, 2016