China Airlines

There was a close call in Okinawa last night.

TAIPEI, Aug 20 Asia Pulse - A passenger jet of Taiwan-based China Airlines (CAL) (TAIEX:2610) caught fire shortly after landing at Okinawa's Naha international airport at 10:26 a.m. local time.

All 157 passengers and eight crew members aboard the Boeing 737-800 were able to escape to safety, a CAL spokesman said, adding that two of the crew members were rushed to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The plane had just pulled up to the gate to disembark passengers at 10: 27 a.m. local time when the left engine exploded and caught fire, according to the CAL spokesman, Sun Hung-wen.

None of the 157 passengers, including 17 Japanese citizens and 24 foreign nationals, were harmed, Sun said.

The Boeing 737-800 had departed from Taiwan Taoyuan international airport at 8: 23 a.m. Taipei time, carrying four tour groups from around Taiwan.

That no one was seriously injured or killed appears to be a small miracle. Thanks be to God for that.

This fire appears to have been started by one of the plane's engines once the craft was on the ground. Fires on planes still in the air have had disastrous consequences. The worst being the Saudia Flt. 163 disaster which took the lives of all 301 people on board.

What happened on Okinawa was the first incident involving China Airlines in five years. The airline doesn't have a good reputation. Most of this due to easily preventable deadly crashes in Taipei and Nagoya during the 90's, the Flight 611 disaster in 2002, plus a non-deadly accident in Hong Kong where a brand new 747 overshot the runway. (Admittedly Kai Tak airport wasn't one of the safer airports in the world, but the pilots tried landing in near typhoon like weather.) Things have been better of late, but I would only fly China Airlines as a last resort.

Like I'm going to be traveling to China any time soon. Right?

Linked to- Leaning Straight Up, Mark My Words, Morewhat, Third World County, Yankee Sailor,