Singapore Airlines said the jet carrying 241 passengers and crew caught fire while landing at Changi Airport on Monday morning after a flight to Milan was aborted on account of an engine oil warning.
The plane’s right engine caught fire after landing around 6:50 a.m. local time, the airline said in an emailed statement. Emergency crews rushed to extinguish the hearth on the Boeing 777-300ER plane, and the 222 passengers and 19 crew members on board were unharmed, the airline said. SQ368 was flying from Singapore to Milan.
“Passengers disembarked via stairs and were transported by bus to the terminal building,” the airline said. “Singapore Airlines will fully cooperate with the authorities of their investigations.”
According to the Aviation Safety Network, aircraft engine fires are rare and the Boeing 777 is certainly one of the safest planes on the earth, with only five of them suffering irreparable damage since its introduction in 1993. A twin-aisle jet has two engines.
Boeing “is aware of the situation and is gathering information,” the Chicago-based planemaker said in an email response to an inquiry, without going into details. The airline said a damage assessment would must be carried out and it had no further information it could immediately provide.
