Plane’s tire catches fire on landing in southern province

HATAY

The tire of a Turkish Airlines plane that took off from Istanbul burst into flames while landing on the runway of the airport in the southern province of Hatay.

Overheating in one of the landing gears of the plane led the tire to explode, said Yahya Üstün, an officer from Turkish Airlines, adding that the firefighters immediately intervened to extinguish the fire.

Hatay Governor’s Office stated that the plane stopped at approximately 2,000 meters from the beginning of the runway with its fuselage intact.

After the pilot informed the tower about the incident, the units in charge intervened in 35 seconds, the office added.

Some 105 passengers and six flight crew members were deplaned, while the plane was removed from the incident area.

The airport’s runway was reopened to flight traffic after 24 hours of closure.

“There was an explosion when the plane landed. Flames began to rise from the back of the plane. In that moment of fear, everyone sitting in the back started to run forward quickly,” said Cemre Can Fırıncıoğulları, one of the passengers.

“They cut off the electricity on the plane as there was a flame, which led the people to panic more as the power went out. After the door was opened, people started to disembark with the plane’s emergency landing boats,” she added.

Stressing that the staff made the landings successfully, Fırıncıoğulları said, “The cries of ‘we will die’ have been echoing in my ears since the accident. It was a very scary moment.”

“They cut off the electricity on the plane as there was a fire. This led people to panic even more. After the door was opened, people started to disembark with the plane’s emergency landing boats,” she added.