Passengers were left terrified after a Ryanair plane’s tyres burst as it touched down in Italy.
Four tyres blew as the jet from Barcelona landed shortly before 8am at Bergamo's Orio al Serio airport, near Milan, on Tuesday, according to reports.
Dramatic pictures show one of the plane’s wheels with no rubber left while another wheel was a burnt wreck.
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The damage did not stop the plane from landing and did not cause any serious issues for the 161 passengers on board, according to local media reports.
One passenger on board the flight told MailOnline how travellers were forced to wait for several hours before they could be removed from the flight.
Alice, a marketing consultant from London, said: “You could smell the burning rubber in the plane. That was quite scary.
“We were ready to go and there were flames which was scary. I was shocked. I never experienced anything like this before.”
Sacbo, the airport's management company told the Italian regional newspaper Prima Bergamo that four of the plane’s wheels burst while it was landing.
The runway was not due to reopen before 5pm local time and flights were either being delayed, diverted or cancelled.
Firefighters were immediately sent to the plane and secured the aircraft.
The flight remained on the runway as passengers were allowed to disembark before being accompanied to the airport.
Sacbo added that 450 metres of the runway was damaged by the tyre explosion and urgent intervention was needed to allow it to be used again.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Flight FR846 from Barcelona to Milan Bergamo (1 Oct) experienced a tyre issue upon landing at Milan Bergamo Airport. Passengers disembarked normally, and the aircraft was inspected by engineers, who are currently servicing the aircraft so that it can return to service.”
