Narrow escape for 240 people as Singapore Airlines jet catches fire

Singapore, June 27

Over 240 people on board a Singapore Airlines flight on Monday had a narrow escape as their jet caught fire while making an emergency landing at Changi Airport here after it turned back en route to Milan following an engine oil warning message but they were safely evacuated.

The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Flight SQ368 departed from Changi Airport for Milan at 2.05 am on Monday but about two hours into the flight, the pilot announced that there was a problem in the engine and the flight had to turn back to Singapore.

The SIA said in a statement that an “engine oil warning message” forced the flight to turn back.

“The aircraft’s right engine caught fire after the aircraft touched down at Changi Airport at around 6.50 am,” the statement said.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

“The fire was put out by airport emergency services and there were no injuries to the 222 passengers and 19 crew on board. Passengers disembarked through stairs and were transported to the terminal building by bus,” it said.

Changi Airport also issued a statement saying the fire was extinguished “within minutes” by the Airport Emergency Service team, which was already on standby.

According to Mamta Jain, whose husband was on board the flight, the plane’s engine “exploded and the right wing was burning” while it was landing.

“The pilot announced during the flight there was a problem with one of the engines that they would turn back. When they landed he said the engine was on fire, he could see flames. They were all inside the plane and they could see the right wing burning,” Jain was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia.

The plane landed in Singapore at about 7am and the fire was extinguished. One passenger posted a harrowing account and a video of the engine fire on Facebook. The video clip, apparently shot from a window seat, showed huge flames and smoke engulfing the right engine.

“I just escaped death!” Facebook user Lee Bee Yee said in a post that accompanied the video clip. Lee, who was onboard the flight with her husband, said there was a strong smell of fuel on the plane.

“The pilot said he was going to turn back because the engine is leaking oil on the right side. The captain said that they could not turn on that side of the engine or else the plane would be vibrating. And they could not fly like this to Milan...That’s why they turned back,” she said.

“We were sleeping and didn’t think too much about it,” she said.

It was an agonising five-minute wait for the firefighters to arrive after we landed and the fire erupted, Lee said.

After they arrived, firefighters sprayed foam and water on the plane and the fire was put out in about five to 10 minutes, she said. PTI