Passengers were left terrified after a Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway at Senegal’s main airport causing 10 people to be injured.
Terrifying video footage shows travellers fleeing the burning aircraft with their bags, while others can be seen taking the emergency slide to safety as screaming is heard in the background.
In one post on Facebook, Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko wrote: “Our plane just caught fire”, while a video shows flames engulfing one side of the plane.
Flights have been suspended at Blaise Diagne airport, which is close to the capital city Dakar, after the plane went into the grass before take-off during the early hours of Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the airport.
Other dramatic footage on social media shows the plane, displaying the logo of Senegal-based airline Transair, standing on the ground with fire-suppressing foam covering its wing.
Emergency services rushed to evacuate passengers, four of whom were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
In a statement, transport minister El Hadji Malick Ndiaye said the flight was heading to Bamako late on Wednesday, and was carrying 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew.
The injured are currently being treated, while the other passengers have been taken to a hotel to rest.
Transair did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline is based at Blaise Diagne airport and operates domestic flights and international routes within west Africa.
It comes just one day after a Boeing cargo plane belonging to the US mail service FedEx skidded along the runway in Istanbul after its front landing gear failed to operate. Sparks were seen flying beneath the plane, though it did not catch fire.
The flight had taken off from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport when the pilot realised the malfunction. Firefighters and rescue teams waited on the runway at Istanbul and immediately doused the aircraft with firefighting foam.
Boeing is already facing scrutiny after a string of mishaps, which have included a Lufthansa Airlines plane bouncing along the runway at Los Angeles airport and a door panel being ripped off a flight in January leaving passengers exposed to a gaping hole.
An investigation into the company has been opened by the US Federal Aviation Administration after workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records.
