Mistake By Fire Crews At Fuzhou Airport In China Delays 30 Flights

Fire crews responding to reports of an engine fire on a taxiing Boeing 737-800 at Fuzhou City Airport Thursday quickly and efficiently doused the wrong airplane with fire-retardant foam.

Realizing their mistake, they quickly and efficiently turned their attention to the correct airplane, but by that time, the damage had been done.

The Associated Press reports that the airplane that needed to be foamed was a Beijing-bound Air China 737-800. The crew of the Air China airplane had shut down the troubled engine after noticing it was emitting sparks. When the fire crews arrived about four minutes after the first report, they noticed exhaust emissions coming from an engine on a nearby Fuzhou Airlines 737-800 ... so that was the plane that got doused. An air traffic controller alerted the fire crews to their mistake.

The Fuzhou flight was delayed by 10 hours, as it had to be cleaned up and then inspected to be sure foam would not be gumming up the works. In all, some 30 flights were delayed by the incident, airport officials said in a statement.

It was not reported whether the Air China 737 had passengers aboard, but the Fuzhou Airlines jet did. No injuries were reported, except to the pride of the fire crew.

Airport officials issued an apology to travelers inconvenienced by the SNAFU.

(Image posted to Twitter by Chinese media)

FMI: www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/fujian/fuzhou/airport.htm