Passengers evacuated as plane fills with smoke

TWO inspectors from the Air Accident Investigation Unit are investigating an incident where passengers were evacuated via chutes from a Ryanair plane following landing at Kerry Airport yesterday.

One hundred and sixty passengers had to be evacuated from flight FR701 after it arrived from London Stansted just after 9am.

The plane had landed safety and was taxiing to the main stand when the captain smelt fumes in the cockpit.

Passengers also reported seeing smoke in the cabin.

A PAN call was sent out and the airport initiated its emergency procedures which involved the local fire service, gardaí and the HSE ambulance centre.

The captain immediately stopped the aircraft and advised passengers he was instigating an emergency evacuation. He deployed the evacuation chutes and opened the access doors over the wings.

Kerry Airport personnel assisted passengers as they used the chutes and all were evacuated safely. The aircraft was boarded by airport and county fire officers, but there was no visible evidence of fire in the cockpit.

The aircraft will remain at the airport until both Ryanair and the accident investigators have completed their own checks.

The HSE said emergency medical technicians treated two females at the scene for minor injuries and they did not need to be admitted to hospital.

Passenger Laura Highet, who was not injured and who was returning to Kenmare, Co Kerry, for Christmas, said the plane was a “bit bumpy” on landing and the cockpit filled up with smoke.

“The plane quickly drew to a halt and the pilot came out of the cockpit saying ‘this is an emergency.’ People were then told to move quickly towards the emergency exits without their luggage,” she said.

“Given the weather conditions, people were anticipating that something could happen and expected the runway to be icy. But there were no panic — more shock than anything.”

Another passenger, who asked not to be named, said a thin layer of black smoke “like the smell of burnt rubber” filled the cabin, the engines were quickly shut down and the emergency light came on.

“The cabin crew were speaking loudly and telling people what to do and to evacuate quickly. There was a bit of panic and people were coughing because of the smoke.

“People didn’t seem to take it too seriously until they were told to evacuate. They behaved very well towards each other — more like human beings than animals,” he added.

Air accident investigators said whilst the situation was obviously serious, a PAN call for assistance was not as serious as a MAYDAY which was applied in emergencies.

The probe will focus on whether there was an issue within the aircraft or whether external factors — such as fumes from a de-icer on the runway being ingested into the cabin were involved.

Inspector Paddy Judge said they did not yet know what caused the incident and awaited a report of the investigation.

Ryanair, meanwhile, said it was “precautionary emergency evacuation” of passengers and denied any passengers had been injured.

There was no major disruption to Kerry Airport operations as a result of the incident.