Wheelchair fire causes scare at Manchester Airport

A jet landing at Manchester Airport with 229 passengers on board averted a potential disaster when a wheelchair that was being carried in its cargo hold burst into flames shortly after the flight’s arrival.

The ground staff unloading baggage from the hold on the First Choice holiday flight saw blue sparks coming from the wheelchair, it was revealed earlier in the week.

Once the chair was taken out of the hold of the Boeing 727-200 and placed on a baggage handling vehicle, it immediately burst into flames.

The fire created an early morning scare for passengers disembarking from First Choice’s flight FCA2662 from Fuerteventura.

A Manchester Airport spokeswoman said that the ground staff “spotted the hazard and reacted quickly,” and added that the wheelchair’s battery should have been disconnected before the chair was loaded onto the plane at the airport in the Canary Islands.

The incident led to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority issuing a warning about the dangers of “seemingly innocuous items,” according to a spokesman for the agency.

Geoff Leach, who is the manager of the CAA’s Dangerous Goods Office at the CAA, commented: “Thankfully no-one was injured as a result of the Manchester incident.”

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www.firstchoice.co.uk