Boeing 737 catches fires, skids off runway at Senegal airport, injuring at least 11 people
- A video shared on social media showed a plane with the logo of Senegal-based airline Transair standing in grass with a wing covered in fire-suppressing foam
- The Blaise Diagne airport said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the accident
A Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, injuring 11 people, bringing the facility to a halt, according to the transport minister and footage from a passenger that showed the aircraft on fire.
“Our plane just caught fire,” wrote Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko in a post on Facebook that showed passengers jumping down the emergency slides at night as flames engulfed one side of the aircraft. In the background, people can be heard screaming.
Transport Minister El Malick Ndiaye said the Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako late on Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew.
The plane “came off the runway during its take-off phase” in the early hours, the airport said.
The Blaise Diagne airport said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the accident, which occurred at around midnight as the Transair-owned Boeing 737-300 chartered by Air Senegal was preparing to fly to Mali.
A nighttime video shared on social media showed a plane with the logo of Senegal-based airline Transair standing in grass with a wing covered in fire-suppressing foam.
