An American Airlines plane engine caught fire at Denver International Airport after the aircraft was diverted there Thursday evening, officials said, forcing passengers to deplane onto the aircraft’s wing as smoke enveloped the plane.
Passengers onboard American Airlines flight 1006 were evacuated at the gate, according to a government source familiar with the incident.
The flight, en route to Dallas-Fort Worth from Colorado Springs, landed in Denver around 5 pm local time, data from FlightAware.com shows.
Video from inside the airport shows dozens of passengers exiting the aircraft and standing on the plane’s wing as smoke filled the air.
Six crew members and 172 passengers deplaned the Boeing 737-800 aircraft after the plane’s engine caught fire at the Denver airport, an American Airlines spokesperson told CNN in a statement.
The flight crew and passengers were relocated to the airport’s terminal, according to the statement. “We thank our crew members, DEN team and first responders for their quick and decisive action with the safety of everyone on board and on the ground as the priority,” the airline said.
The plane landed at gate C38, where it caught fire, a Denver International Airport spokesperson told CNN.
The fire was extinguished, all passengers were evacuated and there were no injuries, the spokesperson said.
Video captured by a Montana woman waiting for a connecting flight inside the airport shows a large cloud of smoke from the plane rising as dozens of passengers are seen exiting the plane and running away.
Leonard, who was flying in from Helena, Montana, told CNN she was waiting inside the Denver International Airport for her connecting flight to Colorado Springs. That is when she looked outside and saw flames and smoke engulfing the plane.
“I was terrified for those passengers,” Leonard said. “I can’t even imagine how scared they must’ve been.”
