Gumleaf
December 21st, 2008, 05:35 PM
07:03 AEST Mon Dec 22 2008
By P Solomon Banda
Passengers expecting a flight to Texas instead had to flee their burning airliner, sprawled in a smoke-filled ravine off a runway with the fuselage partially buckled and one engine and part of its landing gear ripped off during takeoff.
The entire right side of the Boeing 737 was burned and melted plastic from overhead compartments dripped onto the seats below.
Denver Fire Department division chief Patrick Hynes called the scene "surreal".
Thirty-eight people suffered injuries including broken bones, and two were in critical condition with fractures after the Saturday evening accident at Denver International Airport, officials said.
Passenger Mike Wilson of Denver described the chaotic scramble to leave the burning plane on updates he posted on Twitter.com from the airport using his mobile phone.
"By the time the plane stopped we were burning pretty well and I think I could feel the heat even through the bulkhead and window," he wrote. "I made for the exit door as quickly as I could, fearing the right wing might explode from the fire. Once out, I scrambled down the wing."
The 110 passengers and five crew members made it out on emergency slides, and firefighters extinguished the flames quickly, said airport spokesman Jeff Green.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The weather was cold but not snowy when Continental Flight 1404 took off on a flight to Houston about 6.20pm.
The plane veered off course about 600 meters from the end of the runway and did not appear to have gotten airborne, Day said. Debris was scattered on the runway, with the plane about 180 meters away.
Three of the airport's six runways were closed on Sunday, according to its website. Manager of Aviation Kim Day said travellers should expect delays.
Region National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration inspectors were on the scene and a team of senior investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was en route, officials said.
By P Solomon Banda
Passengers expecting a flight to Texas instead had to flee their burning airliner, sprawled in a smoke-filled ravine off a runway with the fuselage partially buckled and one engine and part of its landing gear ripped off during takeoff.
The entire right side of the Boeing 737 was burned and melted plastic from overhead compartments dripped onto the seats below.
Denver Fire Department division chief Patrick Hynes called the scene "surreal".
Thirty-eight people suffered injuries including broken bones, and two were in critical condition with fractures after the Saturday evening accident at Denver International Airport, officials said.
Passenger Mike Wilson of Denver described the chaotic scramble to leave the burning plane on updates he posted on Twitter.com from the airport using his mobile phone.
"By the time the plane stopped we were burning pretty well and I think I could feel the heat even through the bulkhead and window," he wrote. "I made for the exit door as quickly as I could, fearing the right wing might explode from the fire. Once out, I scrambled down the wing."
The 110 passengers and five crew members made it out on emergency slides, and firefighters extinguished the flames quickly, said airport spokesman Jeff Green.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The weather was cold but not snowy when Continental Flight 1404 took off on a flight to Houston about 6.20pm.
The plane veered off course about 600 meters from the end of the runway and did not appear to have gotten airborne, Day said. Debris was scattered on the runway, with the plane about 180 meters away.
Three of the airport's six runways were closed on Sunday, according to its website. Manager of Aviation Kim Day said travellers should expect delays.
Region National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration inspectors were on the scene and a team of senior investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was en route, officials said.