Smoke billows out of tail of Dubai-bound Emirates flight before take-off in Chennai, video goes viral
Image of the smoke rising from Dubai-bound Emirates flight in Chennai.
An Emiratesplane bound for Dubai on Tuesday(Sep 24)night suddenly caught fire and smoke started to rise from its tail just before its take-off from the Chennai International Airport.
The incident was recorded and the video soon went viral on social media.
As per the media reports, the plane was being refuelled before departing forDubai when the smoke started to rise from it.
The smoke was seen coming out from the Boeing 777 aircraft's engine compartment when it was stationed on the tarmac. When the incident took place, no passengers were aboard the plane.
The video was shot by ground workers from the tarmac and airport employees were seen carefully approaching it as the smoke continued to rise from it.
The plane most probably caught fire because of the overfilling, according to media reports.
The ground staff cleared the area and fire officials sprayed water on the tail of the plane to extinguish the fire.
"Ground staff alerted pilots, who shut down engines to prevent escalation. And fire engines rushed to the site to prevent any untoward situation. The situation was brought under control. In between, all passengers were deplaned for a safety inspection," said a Chennai airport official.
Here's how the airline reacted to the incident
In the aircraft, around 300 passengers were supposed to get on board minutes after the incident.
The flight was earlier scheduled to take off at 10:00pm, however, it got delayed by more than two hours and took off at 12:30 am (local time).
India's aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered an enquiry into the matter.
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Emirates, meanwhile, issued an apology for the inconvenience faced by the passengers. "Following an engineering inspection, the aircraft was cleared to proceed to Dubai. Emirates apologizes for the inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance," said the airline.
Speaking to news agency ANI, an Emirates spokesperson said that the flight was delayed because of a "technical fault".
"Emirates flight EK547 from Chennai to Dubai on 24 September 2024 was delayed due to a technical fault. Following an engineering inspection, the aircraft was cleared to proceed to Dubai. Emirates apologises for the inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance," the spokesperson said.
(With input from agencies)