Fire Burns Hole in Plane During Boarding; 6 Hurt

A Delta Air Lines Boeing 727 caught fire Saturday while passengers were boarding at Salt Lake International Airport in Utah, causing six people to be treated for minor smoke inhalation and burning a 4-foot hole through the top of the plane, officials said.

Flight 1558 had originated in Los Angeles and was bound for Edmonton, Canada.

Six people were taken to hospitals in Salt Lake City after the fire broke out, Delta spokesman William Berry said. They were treated for smoke inhalation and later were released, he said.

Delta would not release the identities of the injured. But five of them were Delta employees, including mechanics and the co-pilot of the 150-seat aircraft, Berry said.

The cause of the blaze, which broke out in a computer underneath the first-class compartment of the plane, has not been determined, Berry said. The plane’s fuselage is “heavily damaged,” he said, adding that the plane was about 10 years old.

Flight attendants had just begun boarding passengers for the flight to Edmonton when they heard a loud noise and noticed smoke billowing from the floor of the first-class galley, Berry said.