Qantas passengers have been forced to hastily disembark a plane at Sydney Airport after a fire on the aircraft.
A QantasLink plane and its passengers had just landed in Sydney from Lord Howe Island when all on board were evacuated “following reports of flames near the tyres”.
The dramatic evacuation occurred about 6pm on Tuesday, with footage showing the plane’s landing gear on fire as smoke bloomed around evacuating passengers, who appeared relatively unfazed.
Footage published to social media shows the left wheel of the aircraft ablaze before emergency services extinguish the flame.
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Flight Qf2265 landed safely, according to the Aviation Safety Network, and all 24 passengers and four crew members on board were unharmed. They were safely evacuated through the front stairs of the Dash-8 aircraft.
Operations at Sydney Airport were suspended as the plane landed.
QantasLink chief operating officer Petrea Bradford confirmed the incident occurred on a Dash-8 aircraft and thanked passengers for their orderly evacuation.
“Passengers on a flight from Lord Howe Island to Sydney were evacuated following reports of flames near the tyres after the aircraft had landed safely,” Ms Bradford said.
“We appreciate this would have been unsettling for passengers and we thank them and our crew for evacuating in a calm and orderly manner,” she said.
“Airport fire crews attended, passengers will be bussed to the terminal and engineers will inspect the aircraft.”
