NEW YORK — A fire on board a JetBlue Airways plane on Saturday resulted in the evacuation of more than 160 passengers at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, authorities said.
Five people suffered minor injuries and 167 passengers used emergency slides to evacuate the aircraft, which had just landed in New York from Barbados at about 9 p.m. EST, WCBS-TV reported.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the crew of JetBlue Flight 662 reported a smoking laptop in the cabin after landing, according to WABC-TV.
#Breaking: More than 100 passengers on a JetBlue flight that landed at JFK were evacuated on slides after a fire broke out in the cabin, according to FDNY. https://t.co/7Zhw7iEfai
— CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) December 25, 2022
“On Saturday, JetBlue flight 662 with service from Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) was evacuated shortly after landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport due to reports of a customer’s malfunctioning electronic device or battery,” JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said in a statement to CNN.
Sean Weed, a passenger seated in the first row of the aircraft, told WCBS that the pilot immediately sprang into action.
“The captain came flying out of the cabin. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and was doing like an O. J. Simpson over the seats and passengers. The guy was amazing, and put the fire out,” Weed told the television station. “It was a complete zoo.”
“Safety is always our number one priority,” Dombrowski told CNN.
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