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Fire Breaks Out on South Korean Plane, 176 Evacuated Safely

Fire Breaks Out on South Korean Plane, 176 Evacuated Safely

At a South Korean airport, authorities reported that a fire broke out on a passenger plane just before takeoff on Tuesday night, but all 176 people on board were safely evacuated. The incident occurred at Gimhae International Airport in the southeast, while an Airbus operated by South Korean airline Air Busan was preparing for its flight to Hong Kong. The fire broke out in the rear section of the aircraft, according to a transportation ministry statement.

The plane’s 169 passengers, six crew members, and one engineer were safely evacuated using escape slides, the ministry added. A statement from the national fire control agency reported that three people sustained minor injuries during the rescue operation. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene, and the fire was fully contained by 11:31 PM local time, one hour after being reported.

The cause of the fire has not been determined immediately. The transportation ministry stated that the aircraft involved was an A321 model. This incident occurred a month after a passenger plane operated by Jeju Air crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea’s southern region. In that accident, two of the 181 people on board died, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in South Korea’s history.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed on December 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy, causing the plane to skid off the runway and crash into a concrete structure, which resulted in a fire. The flight had been returning from Bangkok, and all victims, except for two Thai nationals, were South Korean. The initial report on the Jeju Air crash confirmed that birds had struck the plane’s engine, though authorities have not yet determined the exact cause of the accident.

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