A week after a Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people skidded and burst into flames on a Senegal runway, sending at least 10 people to the hospital, another Boeing plane caught fire on Wednesday.
This week's Boeing mishap occurred on a Garuda Indonesia flight heading to Saudi Arabia from Indonesia with 468 people on board, when the plane caught fire soon after takeoff (see video below). The plane returned to its original airport, where everybody safely evacuated.
"The decision was made by the pilot in command immediately after take-off, considering engine problems that required further examination after sparks of fire were observed in one of the engines," said a Garuda official. From MSN:
The Indonesian flag carrier said the Garuda-1105 flight to Madinah – operated by a Boeing 747-400 – returned to its original airport in the Indonesian city of Makassar at 5:15 p.m., with all passengers unhurt.
There were 450 passengers and 18 crew members on the flight, Irfan said, and they included pilgrims for the haj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
They were all redirected to accommodation before boarding a replacement flight later on May 15 to Saudi Arabia, he said.
Footage posted on social media, which has not been verified by AFP, purported to show the plane's engine catching fire as it took off.
See the unverified footage mentioned by MSN below (posted by Rula El Halabi), where at :12 you can see fire shooting out of the plane.
Previously: Boeing plane makes emergency landing in New York when emergency slide flies off mid-flight
