From a slew of mechanical mishaps surrounding Boeing, to on-going stories of unruly passenger behavior, the airline industry can’t catch a break these days.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get any better over the weekend when a laptop caught on fire causing an American Airlines flight to evacuate in a panic.
According to a New York Post report, an American Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport was evacuated, resulting in minor injuries to three passengers, after smoke from a laptop filled the cabin. The incident occurred around 12:15 p.m. as passengers were boarding the Miami-bound Airbus A321 at the gate.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines reported the source of the smoke was a laptop in a passenger’s bag. In response, crew members quickly removed the bag and passengers exited the aircraft using emergency slides, the outlet reported. A passenger recounted the scene to local affiliate KRON4.
“It was desperate until someone opened the middle door and we were able to escape as we were all blocked in the hallway. Some people [were] slightly injured,” one passenger told KRON4.
The San Francisco Fire Department was called to the scene to extinguish the smoking laptop. According to both SFFD and American Airlines, three passengers sustained minor injuries during the evacuation with one being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Passengers were transported back to the terminal and American Airlines issued an apology for the inconvenience. The FAA initiated an investigation to further understand the cause of the incident.
Scary stuff. Check out video footage of the near-disaster:
🚨🇺🇸Breaking an American Airlines at the San Francisco airport had to evacuate the airplane after smoke filled the cabin and peoples started to panic.
People rushing to the front to get out but we’re stuck. Eventually emergency exits were opened and they slid down the cause of… pic.twitter.com/fYBSUy9mmZ
— Todd Paron🇺🇸🇬🇷🎧👽 (@tparon) July 13, 2024