FIRE crews at Larnaca airport were scrambled yesterday after air traffic controllers noticed smoke in the engine of a Russian aircraft that had just landed.
No one was injured during the 10am incident.
The Transaero Boeing 767 with 198 passengers and 11 crew on board, had just arrived from Saint Petersburg when air traffic controllers noticed smoke coming from the right engine.
Fire services rushed to the scene and sprayed the engine with foam to put out the “small, visible flames”.
Fire fighters also covered the tarmac near the plane with foam as a precaution.
“The fire was put out and the fire fighters then covered the spilled lubricants on the runway with foam,” fire service deputy chief Stelios Stylianou said.
“The plane’s pilot used his own fire extinguishing system in the cockpit,” the fire service official said. “But it seems the system could not put out the fire completely.”
The runway had to be shut down for ten minutes while the aircraft was towed to the apron escorted by fire trucks.
Stylianou said four vehicles had responded in under a minute.
All passengers and crew got off the plane safely and calmly, he added.
The passengers, all Russian nationals, departed for their destinations.
Transaero Airlines is an airline based in Moscow, Russia. It operates scheduled and charter flights to more than 70 domestic and international destinations