The incident occurred at about 4:30pm, reported the Phuket Info Center (PIC) in what it called a “preliminary” report this morning (Feb 5).
Phuket airport, operated by Airports of Thailand (AoT), and local Phuket officials have yet to publicly comment on the incident.
The runway was closed for 40 minutes and apparently the plane was later able to take off**, the report said.
** CORRECTION: The plane was later moved from the taxiway to a different area of the airport.
However, the incident caused many flight delays, with as many as 47 flights affected, PIC noted.
After the aircraft was moved to a safe location, repair crews attended to cleaning the runway, a process which took several hours.
Flights from 6:30pm to 9:30pm were affected, PIC noted in its report.
Seven flights were diverted to Krabi airport, one flight was diverted to Samui airport, and one flight was redirected to Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok.
Information provided to PIC reported that a fire started in one of the engines, which was followed by two “explosions”, or at least the sound of two “explosions”.
The pilot took quick action and activated the fire-suppression system, which cut the fuel supply to the engine.
“At the same time, the engine has already reached a certain speed. The pilot had to brake quickly, causing the brakes to heat up and smoke to rise from the wheels… Some of the tyres ‘broke’ [sic].
“Waiting for the results of the investigation to find out what caused the engine to explode,” PIC noted.
The pilot tried to taxi the plane to a taxiway off the runway, but was unsuccessful, the report added.
Firefighters arrived at the aircraft very quickly, PIC noted in its report. The response time was apparently well within ICAO specifications.
Kamala Pete | 06 February 2023 - 14:39:17