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.

FMI: www.british-airways.com