Passengers scramble from smoking Lion Air jet before takeoff
Passengers scrambled to open the emergency doors to get out of a Lion Air plane before takeoff at an Indonesian airport, after hearing an explosion.
Black smoke came from the jet’s power unit as it was waiting at Kualanamu airport in Medan on Sumatra island.
Some passengers were hurt while leaving the plane, J A Barata, a spokesman for the transport ministry, said on Friday (April 24).
They were no fatalities, he said.
The cause of the incident at 1pm local time on the Boeing 737-900ER plane is still being investigated, Mr Andy Saladin, a Lion Air spokesman in Jakarta, told Bloomberg.
The plane was carrying 214 people including crew, Indonesia’s largest airline said in a statement.
Explosion
“There was an explosion heard from the back of the plane,” Mr Saladin said by phone.
“Some passengers then panicked and opened the emergency exit. We have some minor injuries.”
Boeing is aware of it and is waiting for further information, said Mr Jay Krishnan, a company spokesman.
Earlier this month a bomb threat on a Batik Air plane, owned by Lion Group, forced it into an emergency landing.
Pilot errors caused a Lion Air plane to crash into the sea near Bali airport in 2013, an investigation reported in September.
Source: Bloomberg
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now