A flight from Majorca Palma Airport to Manchester led to ‘moments of great tension’ as passengers attempted to escape the plane by ‘jumping from its wing’ onto the tarmac
In a worrying turn of events, Ryanair passengers “jumped from the wings” of the plane due to a false fire warning, leaving 18 travellers reportedly injured.
The incident took place just after midnight on July 4 when the Manchester-bound flight from Majorca Palma Airport was halted due to a false fire alert, Ryanair confirmed. The plane was evacuated but it is said to have caused “moments of great tension” with passengers seen jumping from the plane’s wing reportedly “acting out of fear.”
Dramatic footage captured passengers exiting the plane via its wing and jumping onto the tarmac as emergency services, including firefighters and police, responded rapidly. Amid scenes of terrified passengers jumping from the wing in their haste to escape, an airport employee was heard on a walkie-talkie expressing confusion to a colleague, “Do you know the plane has emergency exits?”
He continued, “Plane about to leave from apron ten or eight and now the people are jumping from the wing onto the ground. Something’s happening, something’s happening, they’re evacuating the plane. Now the firefighters are coming.”
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Several passengers sustained injuries during the evacuation before they were escorted back to the terminal. However, most passengers are said to have evacuated the aircraft in a more orderly manner.
Medical emergency coordinators reported that 18 individuals received treatment for “minor injuries”. Six required hospitalisation and three were reportedly taken to Clínica Rotger, a private facility in Palma. The remaining three were admitted to Hospital Quironsalud Palmplanas in the island’s capital.
Ryanair attributed the flight’s disruption to a “false fire warning.” Their statement read: “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.
“While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.) and crew requested immediate medical assistance.
“To minimise disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 07:05 this morning.
“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
This morning, a representative from the regional government-run emergency response coordination centre verified: “We received an alert about a fire on a plane on the ground at Palma airport at 00.36am today.
“Four ambulances were sent to the scene which were two basic life support units and two advanced life support unit.
“Eighteen people were injured and received medical assistance of whom six were taken to hospital.
“They were all minor. Three went to the Clinica Rotger and three to the Palmaplanas Hospital.”