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Boeing plane skids off runway, injuring at least 10 people as plane ‘catches fire’ on takeoff

Boeing plane skids off runway, injuring at least 10 people as plane ‘catches fire’ on takeoff

A Boeing 737 skidded off a runway at an airport in the Senegalese capital, injuring at least 11 people and grounding all operations as the crew helped evacuate the plane.

The Air Senegal flight operated by TransAir was scheduled to take off from Blaise Diagne airport in Dakar, the country’s capital, to fly to the city of Bamako in Mali on Wednesday around midnight when the plane “exited the runway for its take-off phase,” Senegalese Transport Minister El Malick Ndiaye told the press.

The plane skidded into the grass bordering the runway, where the crew was able to deploy the side exit ramps and carry passengers out of the plane as it began to burn.

“Our plane just caught fire at Blaise Diagne airport,” Cheick Siriman Sissoko, a Malian musician, wrote in a Facebook post accompanied by a video of rescue teams helping passengers evacuate the plane. An orange glow is visible under the jet.

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The plane was carrying 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew members, according to Ndiaye. The airport has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident, The Independent reported.

“Carriers operate and maintain their aircraft for more than 30 to 40 years,” Boeing said in a statement to FOX Business, referring to TransAir for further questions but assuring that the company “will provide any requested assistance to our customers “.

Accident at Dakar airport

A TransAir Boeing 737 en route to Bamako skids off the runway at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Senegal on May 9, 2024. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The plane in question was first delivered 30 years ago to Romanian airline TAROM before TransAir leased it starting this year, according to Plane Spotters. The plane had previously suffered a tail problem during takeoff, but was returned to service a month later.

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Boeing has faced serious media criticism in recent months after several incidents came under scrutiny, including one in which a door cap on an Alaska Airlines flight exploded mid-flight in January.

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Just this week, a FedEx plane was forced to land without deploying its front landing gear. In this case, the pilots managed to keep the plane on the runway.

FedEx said in a statement to Reuters that it was coordinating the investigation and would “provide additional information as it becomes available.”

Boeing plane incident

A general view of the control tower at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Senegal on May 9, 2024. (Seyllou/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Family members of victims who died in Boeing-related incidents have begun demanding accountability for past incidents, such as the case of Nadia Milleron, whose daughter died in a Boeing crash in 2019, arguing that “leaders have made these decisions and that they must be personally responsible. »

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“They should be prosecuted, the executives personally, because that’s what changes behavior at Boeing. People have to face… their decisions,” Nadia Milleron said on “Fox & Friends” last month .

Breck Dumas, Lawrence Richard and Madeline Coggins of FOX Business contributed to this report.