British Airways plane catches fire, eye witness describes scene

A British Airways aircraft on Tuesday caught fire shortly before taking off from Las Vegas, causing minor injuries for two of its 159 passengers and 13 crew members. An eye witness at McCarran Airport said it was a "scary" scenario for people waiting for their own flights.

The fire started from the left engine of the Boeing 777-200, according to an airport representative who spoke to the media. The Twitter account of McCarran Airport issued an incident update at 4:22 p.m. Tuesday (9:22 a.m. Wednesday in NSW), saying the fire has been put out.

“No known injuries and all passengers are off of the aircraft awaiting buses to the terminal. Aircraft was 275-seat B777-200,” McCarran Airport tweeted earlier. Updates from various networks later confirmed two were injured. It is believed some injuries may have been sustained when passengers used the emergency slides.

A CNN report said emergency services were efficient in responding to the incident at the ninth busiest airport in the U.S. This description was later echoed by an eye witness interviewed by International Business Times Australia.

“Everyone at gate stood up very suddenly and gasped - I rushed to the window as well to see what was happening and saw the plane stopped and on fire,” Twitter user Kate DeMaria (@K8DeMaria) told IBT.

“[Emergency services] were very quick to have everyone evacuated and responders were out there within minutes. Very scary to see while waiting for your own flight! Still now there is a lot of backup on the runway - my current flight is delayed but I'm glad everyone is safe!”

An hour after the incident, McCarran Airport said operations are back to normal, “with exception of one runway affected by fire.” There are four runways at the Las Vegas airport.

A CNN update said this particular B777 plane was manufactured in 1998. Investigations are currently underway to find out what exactly caused the blaze. The British Airways plane was bound for London Gatwick.

JUST IN (British Airways News): Seven passengers received medical treatment as a result of the British Airways plane fire in Las Vegas. (UPDATE: 13 passengers were given medical treatment, according to the latest reports.) See McCarran Airport's PSA on Twitter: