American Airlines said the smoke came from a laptop in a passenger’s bag.
An American Airlines flight was evacuated after the crew reported smoke in the cabin while the plane was parked at its gate at San Francisco International Airport, according to airport officials.
The airline said the smoke came from a laptop in a passenger’s bag.
“It smelled like burning cables” and it started to get stronger, Jan Jancay, a passenger on the plane with his father, told ABC News when they got on the plane.
Shortly after, Jancay said they saw huge flames from under his father’s seat and from all sides. The smoke became so thick, he said, “we thought we were going to pass out.”
“We tried to get up but we already had our seat belts buckled up,” Jankay said, adding that he and his father quickly unbuckled their seat belts and tried to go to the rear emergency exit.
Jankay’s father, who was sitting on top of the passenger’s bag that caught fire, said he threw the bag out of the emergency exit door.
Three people suffered minor injuries while being evacuated via emergency slides, the SFO said. One of the three injured individuals was taken to a local hospital, according to an update from the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) Friday evening.
American Airlines said it was aware of a passenger who suffered minor injuries while exiting the plane.
SFFD confirmed that the incident was caused by a battery fire and the fire was extinguished before firefighters arrived on the plane.
Some passengers were evacuated via emergency slides and others disembarked from the jet bridge, the airline said.
The Airbus A321 was scheduled to depart for Miami at the time.
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