TransAir Boeing 737 crashes and catches fire, injuring 11 people

On Thursday, Senegal’s transport minister reported that a Boeing 737 carrying 85 people caught fire and left the runway at the country’s main airport.

Among the 10 injured, including the pilot, passengers were evacuated from the burning plane. Some described scenes of “total panic” as they sought safety.

The Air Senegal flight, operated by TransAir, was en route to Bamako, Mali, on Wednesday evening, carrying 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew when the incident occurred at the international airport Blaise Diagne, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Dakar. .

The cause of the Boeing 737-300 fire and its runway excursion remains unclear. According to the minister, the injured were treated in a hospital, while the others were transferred to a hotel to rest.

Passenger comments

Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko, who filmed the passengers’ harrowing experience on his phone, described how they jumped onto emergency slides amid flames engulfing one side of the plane, with screams echoing throughout.

“My life flashed before my eyes,” Sissoko, 39, said from the hotel where the passengers were recovering. “I thought of my mother, my wife, my children.”

He added: “A single slide on one side opened, causing complete panic during the evacuation. »

Ibrahim Diallo, a 20-year-old Malian citizen on board, revealed that the plane had already attempted to take off that night but encountered difficulties.

“The pilot assured us that everything was under control and that we would try to take off again,” Diallo said. “However, smoke came from one of the wings during the second attempt.”

Air Senegal published a press release on the social media platform X, announcing the rescheduling of flights between Dakar and Bamako.

This is the third incident involving a Boeing plane this week. The same day, Turkey’s Transport Ministry also announced it had safely evacuated 190 people from a plane in Turkey after one of its tires burst as it landed at a southern airport.