More than 18 passengers were injured after a fire alarm triggered chaos aboard a Ryanair Boeing 737 at Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain, shortly after midnight on Saturday. The aircraft, which was preparing to depart for Manchester, had not yet taken off when the incident occurred.
Reportedly, the injured passengers are undergoing treatment for "minor injuries". Six of them were admitted to a hospital, and three others were taken to a private medical facility. Three more were admitted to Hospital Quironsalud Palmplanas in the island's capital.
Emergency services were immediately alerted and responded swiftly, according to a report by Arab Times. The alarm prompted an emergency evacuation, during which panicked passengers exited the aircraft using an emergency door, climbed onto a wing, and jumped to the tarmac in a desperate attempt to escape.
Four ambulances—including two advanced and two basic life support units—were dispatched to the scene, along with airport firefighters and members of the Civil Guard, as coordinated by the regional emergency center.
A video of the incident has been going viral on social media, the video shows, passengers escaping the plane in panic. They can be seen using an emergency exit, climbed onto one of the wings, and then jumping down to the ground.
After the incident, the airline released a statement explaining that the disruption was due to a “false fire warning.” It apologised for the inconvenience and confirmed that a replacement aircraft was provided to minimise delays for passengers.
"A flight from Palma to Manchester, on July 4, discontinued take-off due to a false fire warning light indication. Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal," the airline's statement read.
The statement further read, "While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.) and crew requested immediate medical assistance. To minimise disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 07:05 this morning."
