All Onboard Safe After Tires Blow Out On Landing

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 08.31.06 1400 EDT: The landing gear of a US Airways 737 evidently caught fire during landing at Miami International Airport earlier today, causing the evacuation of all passengers and crew onboard the plane and a messy situation on one of the airport's main runways.

Details are still coming in on the incident, with CNN reporting the fire began in one of the plane's main landing gear wells after two tires blew out on landing.

According to US Airways, 118 people were onboard Flight 431 from Charlotte to Miami -- 113 passengers and five crewmembers.

Mike Wetherill, operations supervisor at Miami International, tells CNN the fire apparently started shortly after the 737-400, N425US, touched down on Runway 27. The fire broke out when two maingear tires blew out as plane was approximately 2/3 of the way down the runway.

All passengers and crew onboard were safely evacuated from the aircraft, put on three buses and sent to Terminal A. Wetherhill says US Airways is now trying to get their baggage off the plane.

Runway 27 remains closed at MIA, as crews figure out how to best remove the plane from the runway.

Stay tuned to ANN as well follow this breaking story.

FMI: www.usairways.com