Passengers evacuate American Airlines plane by emergency slide at London Heathrow
FIRE engines surrounded the Airbus A330 as passengers came down the inflated slides on the runway
PASSENGERS were forced to evacuate an American Airlines plane using the emergency slides at Heathrow after a technical issue caused smoke to fill the cabin.
The airbus A330 with 277 passengers on board was evacuated on the terminal 3 runway due to smoke in the cabin at around 12.30pm today.
Most passengers and crew got off the plane using the jet bridge.
About 12 passengers used the emergency slides to get off the plane a few minutes after boarding.
Video uploaded on Twitter showed the passengers coming down the inflated slides and onto the runway.
Fire engines were seen surrounding the plane as flyers made their way off.
Ross Hiscock, 28, was on a flight that landed at Heathrow from Helsinki when he saw smoke coming off the tail-end of the plane next to his.
He said: "I saw a lot of smoke come out from the tail-end of the aircraft. I wondered if it was normal, whether it was just exhaust fumes.
"Then the door opened on the right side of the aircraft and crews deployed slides from the rear and the middle of the plane.
"Next we wondered whether it was a drill, but then we saw they were real passengers. I saw at least one carrying a child.
"It all happened in a matter of seconds. Everyone seemed to be okay."
Another eyewitness said around 10 fire engines, seven ambulances and a number of police were at the scene.
He told the : "From what I heard there was smoke coming off the back engine of the plane and it set off smoke detectors which caused the emergency slide to be deployed."
A number of passengers and crew are being treated by medical personnel.
A spokesperson for American Airlines said: "American Airlines Flight 731 from London Heathrow (LHR) to Charlotte (CTE) experienced smoke in the cabin while still on the ground in LHR.
"Three slides were deployed on the aircraft and approximately 25 passengers deplaned via the slides. The rest of the passengers and crew safely deplaned via the jet bridge.
"A small number of passengers and crew are being seen by medical personnel but no significant injuries have been reported.
"The aircraft was an airbus 330 with 277 passengers and 12 crew on board. The flight has been cancelled and we are working to re-accommodate passengers now."
A spokesperson for Heathrow said all passengers disembarked safely.
They added the plane suffered a technical issue.
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