Boeing 737 catches fire and skids off the runway at a Senegal airport. Ten people are injured
Senegal’s transport minister says a Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at an airport near the country's capital, Dakar, and that 10 people were injured
DAKAR, Senegal — A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at Senegal's main airport, near the capital of Dakar. Ten people were injured in the crash, including the pilot, the country's transport minister said Thursday.
Passengers were evacuated from the burning aircraft at Blaise Diagne International airport and some described “complete panic” as they scrambled for their lives.
The Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako, in neighboring Mali, late on Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, when the crash happened. The airport is located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Dakar.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the plane to catch fire and skid off the runway. The injured were being treated at a hospital, while the others were taken to a hotel to rest, the minister added.
Passengers jumped down the emergency slides at night while flames engulfed one side of the aircraft and screams were heard all around, recounted Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko, who filmed the passengers' ordeal on his phone camera.
“I saw my life flash before my eyes," he said. «I thought about my mother, my wife, my kids,” Sissoko, 39, told The Associated Press from the hotel where passengers were recovering from the shock.
“Only the slide on one side opened, so there was complete panic during the evacuation,” he added.
Ibrahim Diallo, 20, a Malian citizen aboard of the flight, said the plane had attempted to take off earlier that night but failed.
“The pilot told us
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