Tibet Airlines Plane Catches Fire After Skidding off Runway in China

Flames and black smoke from the fuselage of the Tibet Airlines plane could be seen in videos making rounds of social media.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Mayank Chawla
Video Editor: Shohini Bose

After a three-decade-long tie-up, Electronic Arts has announced that it will no longer release games under the #FIFA banner. The immensely popular series will instead be replaced by a successor, called #EASportsFC.

A passenger plane of China’s Tibet Airlines skidded off the runway and caught fire while taking off in the country’s southwest Chongqing city on Thursday, 12 May.

All 113 passengers and nine crew members on board the aircraft, bound for Nyingchi, were evacuated, Tibet Airlines said, as per CGTN. Over 40 people sustained minor injuries, and were hospitalised, as per the report.

Flames and black smoke from the fuselage of the Tibet Airlines plane could be seen in the videos doing the rounds on social media. People could be seen being evacuated from the rear door of the aircraft and running away from the inferno.

The plane suffered “abnormalities” and the take-off was aborted, causing the jet to overrun the runway and catch fire, Tibet Airlines said in a statement. The carrier is a subsidiary of state-owned national carrier Air China.

A probe into the matter is underway, as per Chinese media.

The incident comes less than two months after a China Eastern Airlines plane crashed in the southwestern province of Guangxi, killing all 132 passengers and crew.