Passengers and crew on a Russian passenger plane celebrate a narrow escape.
On Sunday, Nov. 24 at around 9:34 p.m. local time, the engine of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 operated by Azimuth Airlines — which took off from Sochi, Russia, carrying 95 people — caught fire after arriving at Antalya Airport in Turkey, the Associated Press reported. citing the Turkish Ministry of Transport.
Video of the incident was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by aviation news website Airport Haber, showing passengers exiting the plane via an emergency slide as smoke and flames erupted from the plane.
According to Reuters, all 89 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated from the plane, according to the ministry.
Photo of Antalya Airport sign.
Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Turkish newspaper, Daily newspaper Hürriyet reported that emergency teams extinguished the fire within minutes of the emergency call, according to the country’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
“After landing at Antalya Airport at 9:34 p.m., the plane’s pilots made an emergency call about a fire. Our ARFF teams quickly intervened on the fire at 9:36 p.m.,” the newspaper said in a statement.
“Work is underway to remove the plane from the runway, and landings at the airport have been canceled until 3 a.m. [local time]. Take-offs from the airport are carried out from the military airstrip,” the statement added at the time.
The Russian Federal Aviation Administration, Rosaviatsiya, is investigating the incident, Reuters writes. The cause of the fire is not immediately known, reports AP.
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Live air traffic company Flightradar24 said on X that the aircraft was 7 years old and that “strong and gale-force winds” were blowing in the area at the time of the incident.
According to Daily newspaper Hürriyetthe same aircraft made an emergency landing on October 16 due to reports of leaking hydraulic fluid and sparks while landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. The publication states that all 102 passengers and six crew members were unharmed at the time.
Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Azimuth Airlines did not immediately respond when PEOPLE contacted them.
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Source: HIS Education