NAHA, Japan Initial reports indicated a fuel leak from the right engine could have led to a Boeing 737-800 exploding in a fireball Monday on the tarmac in Okinawa. All 165 passengers and crew scrambled down emergency chutes or jumped from cockpit windows some just seconds before the blast.
Taiwan grounded its fleet of Boeing 737-800 jetliners after the China Airlines plane exploded. Japanese aviation authorities also ordered an emergency inspection of all Boeing 737-800 planes owned by Japanese carriers, as well as some 737-700 models that have similar engines.
Passengers described a normal landing after Flight CI-120 landed on the island of Okinawa from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. But as the jet came to a stop near the terminal, they said that the left engine began smoking, followed by the right one.
When the smoke started billowing outside the plane, the cabin crew already was standing by the doors, said a passenger who gave his surname as Tsang and identified himself as a guide for Taipei’s Southeast Tours.
“The passengers saw the smoke first and they began to yell and demand that the doors be opened,” he said.
Passengers recalled a scene of panic.
“When the smoke started, people were just pushing and shoving each other,” said an unidentified female Taiwanese passenger. “It was total chaos.”
The main explosion, which engulfed the center of the aircraft in flames, occurred after the passengers slid down the emergency chutes at the front and rear of the plane.
Screams erupted as passengers raced across the tarmac to get away from the burning plane, and emergency personnel moved in to fight the fire.
A figure believed to be the pilot hung onto the cockpit window for several seconds before dropping to the tarmac and sprinting away from the exploding plane.
There were no serious injuries among the 157 passengers, including two infants, and crew of eight, Taiwan-based China Airlines said.
Another passenger who gave only his surname, Chen, said he started running the moment he slid off the plane. “I ran so hard my sock tore,” he said. “I think I got my life back.”
Video from Japanese television showed a lone firefighter trying to douse the fire immediately after the explosion. But the plane was quickly rocked by two more explosions, which brought the fuselage crashing to the tarmac.
The fire was extinguished after about an hour, leaving the aircraft sagging on its side, charred in the middle, with part of its roof burned away.
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