British Jetliner Catches Fire on Runway, 54 Die

In the third major airline disaster in three weeks, an engine exploded on a British Airtours Boeing 737 taking off on a vacation flight for Greece today with 137 people aboard, and authorities said 54 people perished when flames swept through the plane.

Survivors reported mass panic in the crowded aisle of the twin-jet aircraft as passengers tried to escape down emergency chutes when the burning plane came to a stop at the edge of the runway at Manchester Airport in northwest England.

The airport manager, who estimated the plane was racing down the runway at 100 m.p.h., said the jet was saturated with fuel after the engine explosion and became “a towering inferno.”

Survivors Injured

All 83 survivors were hurt, hospital authorities said, but only 15 were burned. Many suffered only from shock, they said.

“We were about two-thirds of the way on takeoff and there was a loud bang that sounded like an engine bang,” passenger David Ashworth said. “I looked out to the left, where the sound had come from, and the left engine and wing were already on fire when we came to a stop.

“By the time the doors were open and the first people were out in the (emergency exit) chute, the fire was already inside the cabin, and the rear of the plane was completely full of smoke,” he told reporters at the hospital.

The jet, operated by a subsidiary of British Airways, carried 131 passengers and a crew of six. It was unclear if any Americans or other foreigners were on board, but Airtours usually handles package tours for Britons.

‘Lucky to Be Alive’

“We are just lucky to be alive,” said Mike Mather, 21, of Norwich, who was suffering from shock but otherwise uninjured.

“After the bang, the stewards told us to keep down until the plane stopped, but there was mass panic. Everybody was bunched up in the aisles,” Mather said. “Smoke was coming down the roof and flames were coming in from over the wing. I could hardly breathe. One of the stewards threw me out of my seat and I managed to get out of the front door.

“Anyone who was left after me would be dead,” he said.

Survivor Keith Middleton, 21, from Liverpool, said: “Everyone was screaming and shouting. They were diving out of their seats and pushing. Some were getting trampled on. One of the stewards . . . threw me down one of the chutes.”

Terror in Eyes

Ambulance worker Graham Berber said, “I have never seen so much terror in people’s eyes.”

The British disaster came 10 days after the worst single-plane accident on record, the Aug. 12 Japan Air Lines crash that killed 520. A Delta Air Lines jet crashed at Dallas-Forth Worth Airport on Aug. 2, killing 134.

Airport manager Gil Thompson put the final death toll at 54 and blamed the accident on an explosion in the engine on the left wing as the pilot poured on power to take off.

“We understand . . . that there was an explosion in the port engine which severed the main fuel line and saturated the aircraft with fuel,” Thompson said. “It then became really a towering inferno.”