Thursday, May 16, 2024
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Passengers on a Garuda Indonesia flight faced terror as an engine caught fire after takeoff from Makassar, en route to Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
An Indonesian national airline’s passenger plane made an emergency landing after one of its engines caught fire shortly after takeoff.
The Garuda Indonesia flight was en route from Makassar to Madinah, Saudi Arabia, with 468 passengers on board when the incident occurred on Wednesday.
The Boeing 747-400 returned to Makassar airport immediately after flames were seen coming from one of its engines, according to Garuda Indonesia.
All 450 passengers, including those traveling for the Hajj pilgrimage, and 18 crew members were safely evacuated without any injuries.
Videos shared by the plane crash data evaluation firm JACDEC on social media showed the engine ablaze just after takeoff.
The aircraft was grounded for an investigation into the incident.
Passengers were provided accommodation before boarding a replacement flight later that day.
This incident is the latest in a series of challenges for Indonesian airlines, which faced bans from the US and the EU from 2007. The US lifted the ban in 2016, followed by the EU in 2018.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, Indonesia has recorded 106 civilian airline accidents since 1945, resulting in 2,305 fatalities.
Earlier this year, on January 25, two Batik Air pilots allegedly fell asleep mid-flight for 28 minutes. The flight, with 153 passengers from Sulawesi to Jakarta, veered off course.
In 2021, a Sriwijaya Air flight crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, killing all 62 passengers and crew members on board.
