Fire in plane's engine before take-off

Mumbai: It was a close shave for 124 Bahrain-bound fliers, as one of the engines of the aircraft caught fire minutes before it was to take off.
Gulf Air flight GF 065 was lined up on the main runway for departure at 7.30 pm when its left wing engine caught fire, only nine minutes prior to the departure. All passengers on board were evacuated. No one was reportedly injured. MIAL confirmed the incident.
As soon as the pilot informed the authorities about the fire, apron control and fire officials rushed to the site. "There was utter chaos for a while as everyone rushed to escape a possible mishap,'' said a security official.
The passengers were accommodated in a hotel near the airport. The main runway, from where the aircraft-an Airbus 321-was preparing to depart, had to be shut down for 45 minutes while the airport officials cleared the way.
Two Indian Airlines flights, one from Delhi and the other from Bangkok, which were about to land, had to hover in the air for almost 30 minutes. Three other flights had to be diverted to Ahmedabad.
21/12/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008, Foreign Dec 2008, Safety Dec 2008