China Southern Airlines plane catches fire, no casualties
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A China Southern Airlines plane caught fire while loading early Monday in south China's Guangdong Province, leaving no casualties. It is the company's second incident to cause alarm in less than 24 hours.
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China Southern Airlines plane catches fire, no casualties |
The plane's cargo hold caught fire at 8 a.m after passengers had boarded and while luggage was being loaded at Gungzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, officials of China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd and Gungzhou Baiyun International Airport told Xinhua.
No one was hurt, an official told Xinhua, declining to be named.
Fight CZ3533 was headed for Qingdao City in east China's Shandong Province but as of 1:30 p.m it had still not departed.
Officials from both companies have refused to specify the type of the plane and number of passenger on it.
Police are carrying out an investigation at the scene with the employees of the airlines and the airport.
Initial findings showed that the fire was caused by combustibles in the cargo hold, police said.
No more information has been revealed.
In another incident, a commercial jet, also from China Southern Airlines, carrying more than 100 passengers caused a scare after landing at 12 a.m. Sunday at Xianyang International Airport in the suburbs of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, but no one was hurt, the airport authority and carrier said Monday.
Thick smoke was seen coming from a set of tires when the jet was taxiing from the runway to the airport's terminal building.
The MD90 landed in Xi'an around midday, after a three-hour flight from Shenyang of the northeastern Liaoning Province and took off from Xi'an again at 9 p.m. Sunday after maintenance.
China Southern Airlines said it was a false alarm. The smoke was caused by an oil leak in one of the tires and high temperature in the wheel hub, said service manager Zhou Yi.
On Aug. 24, a Brazilian-made ERJ-190 jet operated by Henan Airlines crashed upon landing at Lindu Airport in Yichun City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, killing 42 and injuring 54 people on board. The accident is the deadliest commercial plane crash in China since 2004.
