Over 200 plane passengers evacuate on slides and four injured after takeoff aborted
More than 200 Delta Air Lines passengers fled an aircraft using inflatable slides and four were injured after an engine problem caused takeoff to be aborted.
At least five emergency slides were deployed as the passengers evacuated the Boeing 757-300 on the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport tarmac shortly after 9am on Friday.
Photos and video clips from the scene showed bundled up passengers going down the slides and running on across snow on the tarmac.
‘Delta’s flight crew followed established procedures to suspend the takeoff of flight… after an indication of an engine issue,’ stated the airline.
Four passengers sustained injuries in the process, and one was transported to a hospital while the other three were treated at the scene, according to airport officials.
‘Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience,’ stated Delta Air Lines.
‘Our focus is to address their immediate needs and get them to their destinations safely.’
Tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows the plane coming to a halt halfway on the runway. The plane was going around 100mph when the takeoff was aborted.
A passenger told Atlanta News First that the engine caught on fire and the plane skid on the runway while trying to lift off.
In a video recorded by passenger Allison Wade, she says ‘there’s smoke billowing out of there’.
‘This is crazy, so now we’re all standing out here, in Atlanta,’ she says, according to CNN. ‘We’re standing out here in the snow.’
Atlanta is under a winter storm warning until 7am on Saturday and the airport was placed under a ground stop on Friday afternoon. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled.
The Delta engine issue is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Flight 2668 was bound for Minneapolis-St Paul.
It happened three days after a JetBlue passenger opened an exit door of the aircraft as it was taxiing for takeoff at Boston Logan International Airport. The passenger was charged and arraigned and other travelers were moved to another plane for the trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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