A flight to Egypt nearly ended in tragedy after a plane caught fire at Sharm El Sheikh airport. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft had just landed when flames burst out. The blaze was sparked after hydraulic fluid leaked onto the hot brakes of the aircraft.
Fortunately, after a few moments, airport emergency crew arrive on the scene.
Footage shows them doing the flames and extinguishing the fire after a few minutes.
There were 189 passengers and seven crew members onboard the plane – Flight PQ7153 – when it caught alight.
Thankfully no one on board was in injured during the incident and all were safely evacuated.
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The plane is owned by Ukrainian airline SkyUp which was launched in 2016.
The Egyptian civil aviation ministry is said to have praised the “professional” ground service team for preventing the fire from spreading to other parts of the aircraft, according to FlightGlobal.
SkyUp confirmed they would be replacing the wheels and brakes following an inspection by engineers, reported The Sun.
Express.co.uk has contacted SkyUp for further comment on the incident.
Sharm el Sheikh flights from the UK have recently resumed following a four-year-long flight ban.
TUI Sharm holidays went on sale on 7 November, with the first flights departing February 2020.
Also this month, easyJet revealed it will launch holidays to Egypt for the first time in 2020.
The company intends to offer up to 24 hotels in Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. The move is part of easyJet’s debut Egypt programme when the operator relaunches at the end of the year, reported Travel Weekly.
The Sharm el Sheikh flight ban was put in place in 2015 after a Russian airliner was bombed killing 224 people onboard.
It was thought that security procedures at Sharm el Sheikh airport were not tight enough, allowing for the bomb to be smuggled on board the plane.
For the last four years, the British and Egyptian governments have been working closely together to work on increasing safety precautions.
After the ban was lifted on 22 October, the government released a statement saying: “Improvements in security procedures at the airport, and close co-operation between the UK and Egypt on aviation security, mean commercial airlines can now be allowed to operate routes to and from the airport.”
