JEDDAH: Hundreds of passengers were evacuated safely from an Iraqi Airways plane on Saturday after a wheel caught fire on landing at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah.
Emergency crews evacuated 356 passengers “in record time without any casualties,” SPA said.
The aircraft was landing when the fire broke out on one of the wheels, it said.
The captain radioed the control tower to report the problem and fire crews rushed to the aircraft to extinguish the flames. It said the fire was “limited” in scope.
Specialized teams at the KAIA evacuated all the passengers from the plane with no injuries. The passengers were later directed to the arrival hall for immigration formalities.
An airport source said the rescue and firefighting teams at the airport conduct weekly drills to deal with such accidents in the shortest possible time.
Airport authorities place great value on human life and passengers’ safety, the source added.
The airport, one of the Kingdom's busiest, is a key gateway for millions of Muslims who arrive for Haj and Umrah.
