Dramatic footage of a raging inferno breaking out next to the terminal at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok international airport as cargo was being loaded onto an American Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft has emerged.
Passengers are seen looking on in horror as flames appear on one side of the plane. The fire broke out at approximately 5:30pm local time on Monday.
The cargo loader itself reportedly caught fire, which in turn spread to the container it was placing on board the aircraft. The fire did not actually spread to the plane, however.
“When a loading vehicle was loading cargo onto the plane it caught on fire,” a police spokesperson said, as cited by the AFP.
The loader operator sustained minor injuries according to an American Airlines spokesperson Martha Thomas, as cited by USA Today.
Thomas said that despite the lack of damage to the aircraft itself, the flight was cancelled “out of an abundance of caution.”
All affected passengers have already been booked on alternate flights.