The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A Delta flight with more than 200 passengers leaving Atlanta was forced to abort takeoff because of an engine issue and deploy emergency slides.
“On takeoff, something went wrong and [an] engine caught fire,” passenger Curtis James told CNN. “Had to emergency evacuate the plane.”
A passenger told Atlanta News First they saw the engine on fire, and that the plane skidded on the runway during its takeoff attempt.
Video of the incident showed passengers running through the snow on the tarmac fleeing the grounded plane.
Four passengers reported “minor” injuries, according to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, three of whom were treated on scene.
“Delta’s flight crew followed established procedures to suspend the takeoff of flight 2668 from Atlanta (ATL) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) after an indication of an engine issue,” Delta told CNBC. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience. We are working to support our customers and get them to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is monitoring the event but has not initiated an official investigation so far.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident, which took place on a Boeing 737-300.
The dramatic emergency evacuation came as the Atlanta airport suffered a spate of delays because of heavy snow. There have been 489 delays and 987 cancelations on Friday at Hartsfield-Jackson, according to travel tracker FlightAware.
Nearly 50 percent of flights originating at the airport today have been cancelled, as a ground stop was in effect for much of Friday morning.
As The Independent has reported, thousands of flights across the U.S. have been cancelled across the Southern U.S. amid a deadly winter storm.
