AirAsia: Panicked passengers refuse to get back on board jet after engine 'dies'

• Jan 04, 2015 16:23
• By Chris Richards

The drama unfolded at the SAME airport from which doomed AirAsia Flight QZ8501 took off on is fateful voyage on December 28l

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Engine fault: An AirAsia plane experienced a fault as it was taxiing at Surabaya Airport (file picture)

 

Nearly 120 panicked passengers reportedly refused to re-board an AirAsia plane after one of its engines 'died' with a loud bang on the runway at Surabaya Airport, in Indonesia.

The drama unfolded at the SAME airport from which doomed AirAsia Flight QZ8501 took off on is fateful voyage on December 28.

According to Indonesia's Metro TV, the aircraft had taxied just three metres at Juanda International Airport when one of the engines died with a loud bang.

The jet, which was heading for Bandung, Indonesia, returned to its departure gate without any further problems and the 120 people on board were asked to disembark.

One passenger, Yusuf Fitriadi, told the TV station that a man wearing a pilot's uniform said that the starter monitor had malfunctioned.

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Drama: Surabaya airport

 

Mr Fitriadi said: "The plane was ready and moved, but suddenly a loud sound was heard, the sound of the engine disappeared and the plane moved backwards.

"We were shocked and panicked."

He said AirAsia told passengers the flight would be resumed after the fault had been fixed.

However, he claimed about 90 per cent declined to get back on board, worried that the fault would re-occur while the plane was in the air.

Metro TV said those who refused to re-board had their fares refunded.

Flight QZ8501 disappeared during a flight between Surabaya and Singapore with 155 passengers and seven crew on board.

The crashed jet was found upside down on the sea bed off Borneo on Tuesday.

To date, 34 bodies, including a flight attendant in her red AirAsia uniform, have been retrieved.

Five of those found were still belted to their seats

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain.

The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Jakarta at 6.24 am, 40 minutes into its journey.

The plane was flying at 32,000 ft (9,753 metres) and the pilot had asked to climb to 38,000 ft to avoid bad weather just before contact was lost.

There was bad weather in the Java Sea at the time.

The cause of the disaster has yet to be established.

However, Indonesian officials believe the formation of ice caused by extreme bad weather may have been responsible for the crash.