Ryanair passengers escape 'fire' on Majorca airport plane, 18 injured

Eighteen people have been injured after a 'fire' was said to have broken out on a Ryanair plane at Majorca airport. Warnings of the blaze came just after midnight, with passengers filmed abandoning the plane via one of its wings before jumping to the tarmac as firefighters and police rushed to the scene.

Regional medical emergency response co-ordinators said 18 people were treated for minor injuries, with six taken to hospital. Three were taken to a private clinic in Palma called Clínica Rotger and the other three to Hospital Quironsalud Palmplanas. It was not immediately clear what type of injuries they had suffered, but they are thought to have been hurt while exiting the aircraft.

The plane was reportedly about to leave Palma Airport and had been scheduled to arrive in Manchester. Emergency services were called to the scene at 12:35am. Four ambulances were mobilised and sent to the plane along with airport-based firefighters and the Civil Guard.

Passengers rushed to evacuate the plane, with six needing to be taken to hospital for treatment. A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre confirmed early this morning: '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.'

Ryanair have since said the fire alert was a false alarm. A spokesperson said: 'This flight from Palma to Manchester 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.

The incident happened at Palma Airport in Mallorca in the early hours. '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.'

A confused airport worker was overheard telling a colleague in a walkie-talkie message: 'Do you know the plane has emergency exits?' as frightened travellers were filmed jumping to the tarmac from one of its wings in their rush to get away. He added: '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.'

According to the source: dailymail.co.uk.