United Airlines flight evacuated after engine sparks fire on wing during takeoff at Houston airport

Passengers were evacuated via slides and stairs from a jetliner at Houston’s main airport on Sunday after an engine problem during takeoff caused smoke and fire on the right wing.United Airlines flight 1382 to New York City was halted while still on the runway shortly after 8:30 a.m. at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

There were no injuries and passengers were bused back to the terminal, the FAA said.

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The takeoff was stopped after the Airbus A319 “received an indication about one engine,” the statement said.KPRC-TV obtained a passenger’s video of orange flames and smoke spewing from the wing as it sped down the runway. A passenger can be heard saying, “Please, please, get us out of here.”

The flight had 104 passengers and five crewmembers and was set to travel to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, United Airlines said in a statement.

“Passengers deplaned on the runway via a combination of slides and stairs and were bused to the terminal,” the airline said. “We lined up a different aircraft to take customers to their destination at 2:00 p.m. CT.”

The FAA said it would investigate the incident.

Concerns about flight safety were high after two recent deadly plane crashes this year. An American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C., with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors. And in Philadelphia, a small jet crashed in a busy neighbourhood, killing seven people.