A Ryanair Boeing 737 at Palma Airport was evacuated early Saturday morning following a false fire alarm. A total of 18 passengers were injured and taken to local hospitals.
The flight involved was Ryanair flight RK3446 from Palma de Mallorca (PMI) to Manchester (MAN). The aircraft was preparing for departure, pushing back from the gate, when the false alarm triggered.
The airline confirmed the incident and released a statement.
“This flight from Palma to Manchester, on July 4, discontinued take-off due to a false fire warning light indication. Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal.”
Passengers can be seen evacuating onto the overhead wings, where there are no inflatable slides on the Boeing 737. As the fuselage is close to the ground, passengers are expected to jump down onto the ground in the event of an emergency. Pilots are expected to lower the flaps in this case, which makes for a shorter jump down to the ground.
There was a similar event on an American Airlines Boeing 737 earlier this year, where passengers leaped onto the wing during a real fire, and got stuck there:
In both cases, inflatable slides were deployed on the aircraft’s other exits. Most passengers escaped via those, while the few who did end up over the wing eventually jumped off or were rescued by ground staff and emergency crews in assistance.
Featured image via Solarpix.
