Beijing: Over 40 people were injured when a passenger plane of China's Tibet Airlines with 122 people on board veered off the runway and caught fire while taking off in the country's southwest Chongqing city on Thursday. All 113 passengers and nine crew members aboard the flight from Chongqing to Nyingchi in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been safely evacuated, Tibet Airlines said. Over 40 people who sustained minor injuries have been hospitalised, China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported.
All passengers aboard the plane were evacuated and the injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment. The cause of the incident remains unknown. "According to reports, at about 8:00 on May 12, a Tibet Airlines flight deviates from the runway and caught fire when it took off at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport," a Twitter user 'BST 2022 @baoshitie1' wrote.
Video footage posted by China Central Television (CCTV) showed flames and billowing black smoke from the fuselage of the Tibet Airlines plane on the tarmac at Chongqing Jiangbei international airport, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. People could be seen running from the plane after escaping via an evacuation slide at the rear door. CCTV said the fire had been extinguished and the runway closed. The aircraft was about to depart for Nyingchi in Tibet when the fire started.
The airline has said that the accident is under investigation. This is the second incident involving a passenger plane in China in recent weeks. On March 12, a Boeing 737 aircraft from Kunming to Guangzhou had crashed in Tengxian county of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. All the 132 people on board, including nine crew members, were killed.
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with Agency inputs
