A plane that was set to depart from an airport runway suddenly burst into flames this afternoon, forcing passengers to evacuate via its emergency slides.
Shocking video footage captured the moment the Delta Air Lines passenger plane became engulfed in flames whilst parked on a runway, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. The flames erupted from one of the plane‘s engines just as it was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Toronto. Inside the airport, a crowd of travellers queuing for their own flights watched on in horror as the emergency slides were deployed, sending terrified passengers flying down onto the tarmac moments before takeoff.
Flight DL1213 was due to depart the Florida airport for Atlanta on Monday morning at 11am ET. But moments before setting off on the three hour journey, flames began to emerge from the engine of the Airbus A330, forcing crew members to deploy emergency slides to allow the passengeres to escape.
The official caused of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
The incident follows a recent string of horrific plane and helicopter crashes across the US in recent months. A collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington DC in January shocked the world after it killed all 67 passengers on board.
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