An Air China Airbus A330-300 was severely damaged by a cargo hold fire at Beijing Capital International Airport Aug. 27 as passengers were boarding for a flight to Tokyo Haneda.

When smoke appeared from the forward cargo hold, the crew immediately ordered passengers to evacuate the aircraft, Air China said.

The crew members also implemented fire extinguishing procedures, the company said. Despite their efforts, the fire was serious enough to emit black smoke thick enough to obscure part of the airport’s Terminal 3, where the A330 was standing, photographs posted on social media show.

Smoke also emerged from the rear fuselage.

The fire appears to have burned through the top of the fuselage just ahead of the wing and just behind the forward doors.

The cause is under investigation, Air China said.

The aircraft, registered as B-5958 and equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, was delivered in 2014. </s> An Air China Airbus A330 burst into flames right as passengers and crew were boarding, forcing an emergency evacuation of the immediate area at Beijing Airport.

There have been no reports of injuries and emergency services are on the scene battling the blaze which erupted in the cargo hold of Air China flight CA976 Tuesday.

The plane had only recently landed from Singapore and the fire erupted as fresh passengers were boarding the aircraft. Eyewitness footage shows passengers filming the flames engulfing the plane they were due to board from the safety of the gangway.

The cause of the blaze is as yet unknown.

Air China posted a statement on Weibo that said crew members and airport staff had successfully tackled the fire.

“Smoke was detected during boarding in the storage unit of flight CA183, which is set to fly from Beijing to Tokyo,” it said.

“Crew members and airport staff have successfully put out the smoke. We are investigating the cause of the incident.”

Like this story? Share it with a friend! </s> Emergency services were scrambled at Beijing International Airport (PEK) after smoke started billowing out of an Air China A330.

Huge plumes of smoke were seen coming out of the aircraft during a turnaround of flight number CA976 between Singapore and Beijing. While passengers were starting to board the aircraft, believed to be registered B-5958, smoke suddenly started coming out of the cargo compartment.

Passengers and crew safely evacuated the aircraft

As emergency services rushed to the scene, passengers and crew members safely evacuated the aircraft using the jetway.

Video clip taken by passenger inside the terminal pic.twitter.com/4KnIhzoGIO Featured Video: — ChinaAviationReview (@ChinaAvReview) August 27, 2019

Passengers who were supposed to fly on the A330 to Tokyo Haneda immediately took to social media, posting shocking videos of the fire on Twitter.

Having had a look at the videos and photos of the incident, it would appear as if the plane may be beyond repair. It looks to have suffered severe damage to the fuselage.

Beijing Airport issued a statement about the incident

Beijing Airport authorities issued a statement confirming that it was a storage unit aboard the aircraft that was on fire.

The statement reads: “After discussions with the airport staff, it is understood that there are no flames detected on the plane.

“There are no passengers on board.

“We have activated certain protocols to handle the situation. The airport is now running on a normal schedule.”

Air China confirmed the incident on Weibo

Air China also confirmed the incident on the Chinese version of Twitter called Weibo that said the following: “Smoke was detected during boarding in the storage unit of flight CA183, which is set to fly from Beijing to Tokyo.”

Crew evacuated last from the front jet bridge. pic.twitter.com/HM31pj7PRs — ChinaAviationReview (@ChinaAvReview) August 27, 2019

“Crew members and airport staff have successfully put out the smoke. We are investigating the cause of the incident.”

This remains a breaking story which we will update as soon as we receive more news. </s> A passenger aircraft awaiting departure caught on fire in the Capital Airport in Beijing on Tuesday, the airport authority said in a statement on its official Weibo account.

“At about 4 p.m. local time (08:00 GMT), smoke emerged from the cargo compartment of a plane waiting for departure at the Capital Airport. The staff working on the scene confirmed that there was no visible fire on the plane”, the statement said.

The airport added that there were no passengers inside the plane when the fire broke out and that it initiated emergency response procedures to deal with the fire.

Videos circulated on Weibo showed the plane’s roof being burned through and was heavily damaged by the fire.

​A verified aviation blogger, known as FATIII, on Weibo wrote in a post that the plane involved in the fire was suspected to be for the flight CA976 to Singapore and several fire trucks were deployed to put out the fire.

Air China issued a statement shortly after to address the incident through its official Weibo account on Tuesday.

“On August 27 Beijing time, smoke emerged from the cargo compartment when passengers were boarding the flight CA183 from Beijing to Tokyo”, the carrier said.

Suspect cargo holder fire on an Air China A330 at Beijing Capital Airport right now. More to follow. pic.twitter.com/WVYpzErE09

​According to the carrier, the crew took measures to fight the fire and evacuated passengers safely. The cause of the incident is being investigated, the statement added. </s> BEIJING (AP) - Large amounts of smoke billowed from an Air China plane Tuesday as passengers boarded at Beijing's airport.

All passengers were evacuated safely from the plane, which was preparing to fly to Tokyo, Air China said in a statement on its social media page.

The smoke came from the plane's front cargo hold and the crew quickly took firefighting measures, the airline said, adding that the cause is under investigation.

Photographs and videos taken by witnesses showed the top part of the plane cloaked in smoke and heavily damaged.

In 2015, a man attempted to start a fire on board a Chinese flight but was restrained by passengers and crew members and taken into custody. China bans the carrying of cigarette lighters and flammable substances, including spirits, aboard all flights.

In this photo released by a passenger aboard a plane, shows fire engines as they spray an Air China plane parked at the Beijing International Capital Airport in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. Large amounts of smoke have billowed from an Air China plane as passengers were boarding at Beijing's airport. Air China says all passengers were evacuated safely from the plane, which was preparing to fly to Tokyo. (AP Photo) </s> Huge plumes of smoke are billowing from an Air China plane at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Shocking video footage shows black smoke rising from the A330 jet as firefighters rush to the scene.

Beijing Capital International Airport has issued a statement confirming a storage unit in the aircraft was producing black smoke.

It reads: "After discussions with the airport staff, it is understood that there are no flames detected on the plane.

"There are no passengers on board.

"We have activated certain protocols to handle the situation. The airport is now running on normal schedule."

Pictures shared by tourists at the boarding area of Terminal 3 at the airport shows a burnt roof at the front of the plane.

Air China confirmed the incident as they posted on Weibo, a Chinese equivalent to Twitter, that read: "Smoke was detected during boarding in the storage unit of flight CA183, which is set to fly from Beijing to Tokyo.

"Crew members and airport staff have successfully put out the smoke.

"We are investigating the cause of the incident."

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Follow us on Twitter @DailyMirror - the official Daily Mirror & Mirror Online Twitter account - real news in real time.

We're also on Facebook /dailymirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Mirror Online. </s> BEIJING — Large amounts of smoke billowed from an Air China plane Tuesday as passengers boarded at Beijing's airport.

All passengers were evacuated safely from the plane, which was preparing to fly to Tokyo, Air China said in a statement on its social media page.

The smoke came from the plane's front cargo hold and the crew quickly took firefighting measures, the airline said, adding that the cause is under investigation.

Photographs and videos taken by witnesses showed the top part of the plane cloaked in smoke and heavily damaged.

In 2015, a man attempted to start a fire on board a Chinese flight but was restrained by passengers and crew members and taken into custody. China bans the carrying of cigarette lighters and flammable substances, including spirits, aboard all flights. </s> At least 50 people were killed after a US-Bangla Airlines flight crashedwhile landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Monday.

The plane, which had 71 people on board, skidded off the runway and careened into a football field as it was trying to land. Authorities said the fire in the plane is under control and rescue operations are underway.

Here are some of the world’s deadliest plane crashes in the last decade:

February 18, 2018: All 65 passengers and crew were feared dead in a plane crash in central Iran, after the domestic flight came down in bad weather in a mountainous region.

February 11, 2018: A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed outside Moscow after taking off from the capital’s Domodedovo airport, killing everyone on board. News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo saw a burning plane falling from the sky.

December 25, 2016: A Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members, crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria, killing everyone on board.

May 19, 2016: An EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea after swerving in mid-air and plunging from cruising height. French President Francois Hollande confirmed the aircraft “came down and is lost”.

October 31, 2015: Russian airline Kogalymavia’s Airbus crashes over central Sinai. All 224 on board killed.Russia said on 17 November that a “terror act” was responsible for the crash and that “traces of foreign explosives” were found on debris of the Airbus, reported the BBC.

June 30, 2015: Indonesian Hercules C-130 military transport plane crashes in Medan two minutes after take-off. All 122 people on board, including service men and their families, and at least 19 people on the ground died.

March 24, 2015: Pilot deliberately crashes Germanwings Airbus in French Alps. Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot, was ‘depressed’ during pilot training, said sources, and was on anti-depressants. All 148 people on board died.

December 28, 2014: AirAsia flight goes missing over the Java Sea in bad weather. There were 162 passengers and crew on board. It was later reported that the flight crashed into the Java Sea and debris from the crash as well as human remains were recovered from the sea.

July 24, 2014: Air Algerie flight AH 5017 goes missing over Mali with 116 on board, feared to have crashed in violent storm. The plane took off from Burkina Faso and was headed to Algiers, when it crashed.

July 14, 2014: A Malaysia Airlines flight crashed in the region of Donetsk, the focal point of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members died.

March 8, 2014: Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 on board — including five Indians — went missing over the South China Sea. On March 24, Malaysia declared missing MH370 ‘lost’.

June 3, 2012: Dana Air MD-83 jet crashes into residential area of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, killing all 153 people aboard.

April 20, 2012: Bhoja Air Boeing 737 crashes in wheat fields near Islamabad, Pakistan while trying to land during thunder storm, killing 127 people.

Jan 9, 2011: Iran Air Boeing 727 breaks to pieces on impact in northwestern Iran. 77 dead.

July 28, 2010: July 28, 2010: Airbus 321 flying from Karachi crashes into hills outside Islamabad, all 152 on board dead

May 22, 2010: Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes in Mangalore airport killing 158. The aircraft, which was coming from Dubai, overshot the runway on landing, fell over a cliff, and caught fire. Out of 160 passengers and six crew members, only eight survived, making this the third-deadliest crash India has seen.

May 12, 2010: Afriqiyah Airways plane en route to Tripoli, Libya, from Johannesburg, South Africa, crashes into the desert less than a mile from the runway, killing 103 people.

April 10, 2010: The plane of Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashes outside the western Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 aboard.

July 15, 2009: 168 killed in Iran plane crash, after a Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 flight from Tehran to Armenia crashed in a village off north-western Iran.

June 30, 2009: Yemenia Airbus 310 en route to the Comoros Islands crashes into the Indian Ocean with 153 people on board, after encountering bad weather.

June 1, 2009: Air France Airbus A330 runs into thunderstorms and crashes into Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing 228 people on board. </s> MOSCOW — A Russian passenger jet crash-landed into a cornfield shortly after takeoff from Moscow on Thursday, injuring 23 people, but remarkably, no one was killed, according to Russian media reports and the national aviation regulator Rosaviatsia.

Ural Airlines Flight 178 collided with a flock of gulls just after leaving Zhukovsky International Airport near Moscow, severely damaging the aircraft’s engines and forcing it to make the emergency landing less than a mile from the airport.

“Thanks to the professionalism of pilots and the crew, there were no serious injuries and damages among the passengers,” the Russian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The airliner, an Airbus A321, had 226 passengers and seven crew members onboard and was bound for Simferopol in Crimea, Rosaviatsia said in a statement. An investigation into the incident has begun. </s> An Indonesian Lion Air Boeing airliner carrying 189 people and flown by Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja crashed into the Java Sea on Monday minutes after taking off from here, with no sign of survivors.

The Boeing 737, JT 610, disappeared from the radar 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang on the Indonesian island of Bangka.

Here are the top 10 worst air crashes in the history of Indonesia:

Mandala Airlines Flight 660 was a scheduled passenger flight on 24 July 1992 which crashed in Indonesia into a mountain on Ambon Island as it attempted to land at Pattimura Airport in a heavy thunderstorm. Pilot error and wind shear were blamed for the crash. At least 70 people died in the air crash.

On 20 May 2009, an Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100-30(P) Hercules which was carrying 112 people (98 passengers and 14 crew) crashed at about 6:30 local time (23:30 UTC), while flying from Jakarta to eastern Java. The crash resulted in 99 deaths, 2 of which occurred on impact when the aircraft struck at least four houses before skidding into a rice paddy, in the village of Geplak.

Adam Air Flight 574 (KI574 or DHI574) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Adam Air between the Indonesian cities of Surabaya and Manado that broke up in mid-air and crashed into the Makassar Strait near Polewali in Sulawesi on 1 January 2007. All 102 people on board died, making it the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737-400.

SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled SilkAir passenger flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Singapore, that crashed into the Musi River near Palembang in southern Sumatra, on 19 December 1997, killing all 97 passengers and seven crew on board.

On April 22, 1974, Pan Am Flight 812 (PA812), operated by a Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B crashed into rough mountainous terrain while preparing for a runway 09 approach to Denpasar after a 4-hour 20-minute flight from Hong Kong. At least 107 were killed in the air accident.

The 1991 Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crash happened on 5 October 1991 when Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules, A-1324, crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta-Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport due to an engine fire. In the air crash, 135 were killed, including 121 airmen, 12 crew and 2 on the ground.

On 30 June 2015, a Lockheed KC-130B Hercules belonging to the Indonesian Air Force with 12 crew and 109 passengers on board, crashed near a residential neighborhood shortly after taking off from Medan, Indonesia, en route to Tanjung Pinang. All aboard were killed, along with 22 people on the ground.

Mandala Airlines Flight 91 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight that originated from Polonia International Airport in Medan, Indonesia to Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. On 5 September 2005 at 10:15 WIB (UTC+7), the flight crashed into a heavily populated residential area, seconds after taking off in Medan. There were 149 fatalities.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was a scheduled international passenger flight, operated by AirAsia Group affiliate Indonesia AirAsia, from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. On 28 December 2014, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A320-216, registered as PK-AXC, msn: 3648, crashed into the Java Sea during bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board. Two days after the crash, debris from the aircraft and human remains were found floating in the Java Sea.

On 26 September 1997, Flight 152, on final approach into Polonia International Airport, crashed into mountainous woodlands 30 miles (48 km) from Medan during low visibility caused by the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. All 234 passengers and crew were killed. The crash site was in a ravine near the village of Buah Nabar in the Sibolangit district south of Medan. With 234 fatalities, it is the deadliest airline disaster in Indonesia's history.
An Air China Airbus A330 preparing to takeoff as Flight 183 catches fire during boarding at Beijing International Airport. Passengers and crew successfully evacuate, but the aircraft is severely damaged.