There are many people who are absolutely terrified of flying. Hopefully, none of them were on a recent British Airways flight, where passengers had quite the scare as a plane flying to London from Las Vegas caught fire on the runway.
This Tuesday, a British Airways flight bound for London was forced to evacuate 172 passengers and 13 crew members after catching on fire on the runway of Las Vegas’s McCarran airport.
The airport recently tweeted this update concerning the welfare of passengers and crew alike, who escaped the engulfed plane via emergency slides:
UPDATE 4:33 PM — There were 159 passengers and 13 crew on the flight. Two were transported for minor injuries.
— McCarran Airport (@LASairport) September 8, 2015
CNN reports that the “Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft’s left engine caught fire, prompting the crew to abort the takeoff.”
A writer from the Guardian, Jacob Steinberg, live tweeted updates of the perilous events, and even posted this video of the fire’s aftermath on the tarmac:
Video of the aftermath here pic.twitter.com/3Uxnmz0ltr
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) September 9, 2015
So far, 20 people have been reported as injured, although thankfully, everyone survived the fire. British Airways is still investigating the cause of the fire.