An Air China plane had to make an emergency landing in Singapore after its engine caught fire. Pictures and videos of a plane cabin filled with smoke have surfaced on the internet. According to CNN, passengers were evacuated from the aircraft by using the emergency exit slide while dark smoke billowed from the engine that was still on fire.
According to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, all 146 passengers and nine crew members safely evacuated after landing at about 4:15 p.m. local time.
An X user shared a video of passengers exiting from the emergency slide. The caption read, "Pratt & Whitney engine on fire, Air China flight evacuated on Singapore runway. CA403 TFU-SIN squawking 7700 shortly before landing at Singapore due to PW1100G engine fire. Heavy smoke in the cabin, crew evacuated the plane on the runway. The aircraft is a 4-year-old A320neo B-305J," he wrote on X.
Singapore's Changi Airport in a statement on Facebook wrote, "On 10 September 2023, at 1559 hours, an Air China flight (CA403) flying to Singapore Changi Airport from Chengdu, China, reported smoke in the forward cargo hold and lavatory, declared an emergency and requested priority landing. CA403 was given priority and landed on Changi Airport Runway 3 at about 1615 hours."
Adding, "After landing, emergency slides of the aircraft were deployed for expeditious evacuation. The Airport Emergency Service (AES) responded immediately to the incident and put out a fire in the left engine of the aircraft at about 1625 hours."
The statement said that nine passengers sustained minor injuries related to smoke inhalation and abrasions during the evacuation process. They have since been attended to. Air China and Changi Airport Group are providing assistance to all passengers and crew.
