Chinese airlines Tibet Airlines said all passengers and crew members were evacuated from the burnt-out Airbus A319 after a withdrawal from the southwestern city of Chongqing on Thursday.No casualties were reported and only minor injuries were reported to the 113 passengers and nine crew members in the boat, the airline said in a statement.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said 36 people had received cuts and bruises during the launch of TV9833 and were sent to local hospitals for testing. The pilots disrupted the flight by following procedures after encountering an unusual incident, the CAAC said in a statement, which resulted in engine crashes and fire after the plane veered off the runway.Emergency plans were put in place and investigators rushed to the scene, added the air traffic controller.
CAAC to field inspection & determine possible safety
The incident took place less than two months after the crash of the China Eastern Airlines crash, prompting the CAAC to launch a comprehensive field inspection to determine possible safety. Unconfirmed video on social media showed Tibet Airlines, a subsidiary of Air China, with heavy smoke and flames coming from the left side of the plane as passengers and crew left.ChongqingJiangbei International Airport said the plane caught fire at 8:09 a.m. Home Time (0009 GMT)
Exit slides, which could cause minor injuries, were used, according to unconfirmed photos on social media. The aircraft involved is a nine-year-old A319, one of the smallest versions of the A320 family. It is powered by CFM56 engines from CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran according to Airfleets.net.Airbus said it was aware of media reports of the incident and made every effort to assess the situation.
Tibet Airlines is a regional airline based in Lhasa. It has a total of 39 airlines, including 28 A319s, according to Airfleets.net. On March 21, China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) with 132 people in a Boeing 737-800 crashed in the mountains of southern China, killing all occupants. So far there are few clues as to the cause of the accident. Learn moreThe disaster shocked a country that had one of the world’s leading aviation safety records and its aviation industry had a decade ago, before COVID, one of the fastest growing markets in the world for overcrowding.