The Singapore Airlines flight had just performed a succesful emergency landing, after pilots saw an engine oil warning message and crew smelt fuel in the cabin, when its right wing burst into flames.
None of the 222 passengers or 19 crew members on board were injured, but plenty posted about the ordeal and their stress during the few minutes they watched from within the burning plane as fire crews extinguished the flames. The flight had been heading to Milan when it turned back to land at Singapore’s Changi airport, and it caught fire around 6:50 a.m. local time on Monday morning, Reuters reports.
“I just escaped death!” wrote passenger Lee Bee Yee, according to the Washington Post. “I thank God I am alive! I going home to hug my kids.” Lee Bee Yee had posted a video of the fiery plane and photos from inside the cabin.
An analyst told Reuters that the pilots had “followed the right procedures” by turning back to avoid further danger. Passengers were able to transfer to another Milan-bound plane.
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Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com