KAOHSIUNG – One of the tyres of a Taiwan-bound passenger jet burst while landing at Kaohsiung International Airport on Tuesday, Oct 16 2018, forcing the airport to shut down operations for more than five hours.
All 98 passengers and crew members on board the China Airlines flight from Manila were safe and disembarked the airplane at 12:20pm, China Airlines said.
Flight CI712 took off from the Philippines at 10:00am and landed at Kaohsiung at 11:38am when the aircraft suffered a burst left main wheel and damaged the runway.
A total of 66 flights and more than 7,000 passengers were affected as a result of the incident, according to Central News Agency.
Photos taken by witnesses purported to show firefighters putting out a fire at the tyre while passengers were being evacuated. A flat tyre is also seen on one of the wheels of the aircraft.
Witnesses also told reporters that they heard a loud bang during landing but did not realise it was a burst tyre until later.
All passengers and crew members safely disembarked the plane and were bussed to the terminal building at about 12:20pm, according to TVBS.
The aircraft is said to be a Boeing 737-8Q8 with the tail number B-18652 as per Live Air Traffic website Flightradar24.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration is investigating the cause of the incident.
