Ankara: Chaos erupted at Antalya airport in Southern Turkey after passengers inside a Boeing 777 operated by Turkish Airlines were evacuated using emergency slides on Tuesday. The incident took place after a smoke was detected inside the plane.
All passengers were safely evacuated, and no one was injured. The aircraft had arrived from Istanbul. The smoke reportedly erupted when the aircraft was moving on the runway.
Visuals From The Spot:
Notably, the aircraft made a normal landing. "Following the normal landing of our Boeing 777 aircraft, registered as TC-LKF, operating flight TK2430 from Istanbul to Antalya, smoke was observed from the landing gear on the taxiway. Upon the recommendation of the firefighting teams (ARFF) intervening with the smoke, passenger evacuation was carried out as a precaution by deploying the slides," The airline's spokesperson, Yahya Ustun, said in his X post.
The airlines arranged a return flight and initiated technical inspections of the aircraft. As per Ustun, initial findings indicated that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in the hydraulic pipe.
The smoke erupted from the landing gear during taxiing. Enes Cakmak, the chief of Turkey's General Directorate of State Airports Authority, shared images of emergency staff controlling the situation.
“Today, following the landing of the Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300, flight number TK-2430, operating the Istanbul-Antalya route, smoke was observed emanating from the landing gear during taxiing, which was noticed by the air traffic controller and reported to the pilot. Subsequently, swift coordination was established between the control tower and ARFF units, and our teams promptly arrived at the scene,” Cakmak, said in an X post.
“As a result of the rapid and effective intervention by our ARFF teams, the 247 passengers and 13 crew members on board were safely evacuated. The aircraft was successfully towed to a safe area after the necessary inspections. I extend my gratitude to all my colleagues, particularly our air traffic control and ARFF teams, who acted promptly and effectively with their professional reflexes,” he added.
