Hundreds of passengers traveling to Ghana on Monday were gripped with fear after fire broke out in the wheel well of a Delta Airliner they were on-board.
The aircraft was about flying from the JFK International Airport for Ghana’s capital Accra.
Some 250 passengers and 8 crew members were reported by the The New York Post to have been on the plane on Monday evening.
The passengers according to US media reports were evacuated from the Flight 420. They were evacuated via mobile stairs.
The flight’s takeoff was aborted due to an issue with its airspeed indicator. That caused the brakes to overheat and ignite the gear.
The Port Authority PBA confirmed on Twitter. Its officers inspected the destroyed gear on the Delta plane.
#PAPD ARFF officer inspects destroyed gear on Delta aircraft. At the same time as the JFK Delta fire a Delta Airbus 319, that just departed Laguardia, made an emergency landing at JFK with a possible bird strike. PAPD ARFF had to split ARFF response. #PAPDPROTECTSNYNJ #ARFF pic.twitter.com/WbdLbeqhep
— Port Authority PBA (@PAPD911) October 2, 2018
Meanwhile a representative for Delta Air Lines apologized to passengers in a statement.
The statement read that “Delta apologizes to our customers onboard Flight 420 for delaying their travel. “We are working to get customers to their destination as soon as possible.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
