A speedy response from emergency crews at Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport helped avert disaster after a SkyUp Airlines plane caught fire while taxiing on the tarmac over the weekend.
According to The Sun, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft carrying 196 passengers and crew had just landed on Saturday when hydraulic fluid apparently leaked onto the plane's hot brakes, causing the landing gear to erupt into flames.
The scary scene was captured on video and shared to AIRLIVE net.
The Ukrainian low-cost carrier, which only began operations last year, confirmed that it will replace the wheels and brakes following an inspection by engineers.
"The landing of the plane UR-SQH, which performed the flight SQP 7153 along the route Zaporizhzhia - Sharm El Sheikh, was normal," SkyUp said in a statement shared on its website. "Already at the time of taxiing to the parking lot, a fire occurred in the area of the brake device of the first wheel."
"The passengers and crew also left the plane normally, no emergency was declared and no corresponding evacuation was carried out."
The Egyptian civil aviation ministry lauded the "professional" ground service team for dousing the fire before it could spread to other parts of the aircraft.
The incident comes six months after a Myanmar National Airlines plane was forced to land without its front landing gear.
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