Passengers and crew onboard a Singapore Airlines flight to Milan have had a narrow escape from death when the aircraft they were on caught fire while making an emergency landing at Changi International Airport (CIA).
Singapore Airlines Flight SQ368 departed CIA at 2.05am local time on Monday, but turned back to Singapore some two-and-a-half hours into the flight when the pilot reported the Boeing 777-300 signalling an engine oil warning.
As the giant 155 ton aircraft touched down at about 6.50am the right-side engine burst into flames, the fire rapidly spreading along the underside of the aircraft’s right-side wing, and igniting leaking oil dripping onto the tarmac.
CIA’s Airport Emergency Service quickly extinguished the blaze and no injuries were reported by any of the 222 passengers and crew. The Singapore Airlines aircraft was subsequently towed to another part of the airport terminal and the affected runway, Runway 2, was reopened to aircraft traffic two-and-a-quarter hours later.
Singapore Airlines passenger Lee Bee Yee posted photos and video of the dramatic moments on his Facebook page saying “I just escaped death!!!!”.
“It was a heart wrenching 5 mins! Waiting for the fire engine and fire fighters to put out the fire! They shot foam and water into the fire and eventually it was put out! We were so close to death!!. I thank God I am alive! I going home to hug my kids”, he added.
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