Video: Smoke in flight, passengers injured during evacuation in Venezuela
The emergency evacuation took place after smoke was detected inside the plane which was heading to the Dominican Republic from Venezuela.
In Short
- The plane was heading to Dominican Republic from Venezuela
- Incident occurred at Maiquetia Simon Bolivar International Airport
- Injuries reported during evacuation, cause of smoke unknown
A number of passengers onboard a Dominican Republic-bound flight from Venezuela were injured after they were forced to evacuate the aircraft using emergency slides following the detection of smoke inside the plane.
The incident took place at the Maiquetia Simon Bolivar International Airport, located on the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, on Sunday. The Laser Airlines plane was carrying 91 people onboard.
The regional airlines is based in Caracas and the cause of the smoke was not immediately known.
According to The Aviation Herald, a number of people were taken to local hospitals after they sustained injuries during the evacuation procedure.
Footage on social media showed the passengers sliding down with their luggage, with some even falling on the concrete pavement.
Since the passengers were rushing to get off the plane, some of the luggage also hit other people while using the slides.
Although local Venezuelan media outlets reported the incident, the country's National Civil Aeronautics Institute (INAC) only confirmed it later.
In a brief statement, the INAC said Laser Airlines provided a replacement aircraft to complete the journey to Santo Domingo, adding that a thorough evaluation will be carried out to ascertain the exact cause of the incident.
The replacement aircraft took off for Santo Domingo after a delay of about three hours.
Laser Airlines is yet to comment on the incident.