HONG KONG: A fire broke out on the tarmac of Hong Kong’s international airport Monday, with black smoke seen billowing near the belly of an American Airlines plane.
The blaze began around 5:30 p.m. (0930 GMT) in one of the parking berths and one person was injured, police said.
“When a loading vehicle was loading cargo onto the plane it caught on fire,” a police spokeswoman said, adding that it was an empty American Airlines flight.
Photos on social media showed the fire blazing, with black smoke rising near the belly of the plane in between the right wing and tail wing.
Hong Kong Airport Authority said the fire, which occurred at ground level, had been extinguished and they were investigating its cause.
The plane was bound for Los Angeles, according to the airport website.
Fire breaks out near passenger jet at Hong Kong airport
Fire breaks out near passenger jet at Hong Kong airport
Afghan Taliban says Pakistan bombs Kabul in fresh escalation
KABUL: The Afghan government said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out fresh strikes on Kabul and several other provinces.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas, were targeted.
Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” until Kabul desists from supporting militants.
