Tue, Aug 05, 2003
BA Jet Evacuated After Smoke Fills Cabin
British investigators are still
trying to figure out why a British Airways flight just leaving the
terminal at Belfast for a flight to Manchester suddenly filled with
smoke. The aircraft was using its reverse-thrust to back away from
the gate when the smoke filled the cabin (see file photo,
below).
"All the passengers were on board and, as it was pushing back
from the stand, they noticed a slight haze of blue smoke in the
cabin," said a spokesman for the airline. "The captain decided as a
precautionary measure to have a full evacuation and emergency
slides were deployed and all the passengers were safely evacuated
down the slides."
That's the story told with typical British understatement. What
really went on back in the back? One passenger on board the flight
said, "As the plane was moving towards the runway, the engine just
died and then we heard the pilot shouting to evacuate. Thank God we
weren`t in the air. All the staff responded to the situation really
quickly, although I think they were in as much shock as we
were."
One woman was slightly hurt when the 54 passengers were rushed
to the emergency exits and slid down the emergency chutes. Among
the evacuated passengers, a man in a wheelchair and a mother with
an infant.
Within three hours, the situation was back to normal. A
spokesman for Belfast City Airport said: "The airport`s emergency
procedures were successfully implemented in full. The airport is
operating normally and flights are leaving and arriving on
schedule." BA says all passengers were successfully rerouted.
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