Horrible! As soon as the passenger plane carrying 185 people took off, its engine exploded and spewed out a terrifying fireball, and the runway was in flames.

This article is reproduced from the public account: West Canada Weekly (public account ID: westcanadaweekly)

There was a loud “bang”, and the engine of a passenger plane that had just taken off suddenly exploded.

At around 6:45 pm local time on Sunday, Delta Air Lines flight 1067 took off from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia, destined for Atlanta.

This passenger plane carried 179 passengers and 6 crew members. No one expected that death would quietly approach at this moment.

Just when the plane reached peak takeoff speed and the nose of the plane was just raised, a harsh and huge explosion shattered the tranquility in the cabin.

The Boeing 737-900’s left engine failed and spewed out huge flames, which not only alarmed the tower but also ignited a large area of ​​grass next to the runway.

The air traffic controller at the tower saw this scene clearly from the ground and asked hurriedly over the radio: “Is everything okay? I saw huge flames coming out during takeoff!”

The captain immediately declared an emergency calmly but solemnly: “Delta Flight 1067 has lost its left engine and requests to return immediately.”

Passenger Geoff Thatcher was a Delta frequent flyer with more than 3 million miles.

He recalled that everything seemed normal during takeoff, but just as the plane reached top speed, everyone heard a sharp crack.

At that moment, fear enveloped the entire cabin.

Satchel said that as the plane climbed very slowly, he held his wife Tanya’s hand, and the two looked at each other and said what neither one wanted to say: “If we have to leave, at least we are together.”

Later, the two even began to discuss what to do if the children at home lost their parents, while his wife comforted the frightened female passenger in the seat next to her.

Because the left engine was turned off, the cabin was eerily quiet, but the silence made it even more unsettling.

To make matters worse, flames from the engine ignited the grass next to the runway. The fire spread rapidly, and the tower urgently notified another aircraft on the ground to evacuate and dispatched fire engines to the scene.

The scene was shocking – a wall of fire surged next to the runway, and the orange flames illuminated the entire horizon.

Fortunately, the plane finally returned to the departure airport safely after hovering in the air for less than 30 minutes.

During the landing, the captain once again broadcast to reassure passengers: “I want everyone to know that when landing you will see grass on fire next to the runway. This is normal in this situation, don’t worry.”

However, when the plane actually landed and taxied, the scene in front of them still made everyone take a breath.

“We landed and taxied past a burning runway with fire truck lights flashing,” Satcher described. “Then we stopped in the middle of the runway and the captain made another announcement and said, ‘Again, this is normal.'”

Another passenger, Jeanne Miraglia, also confirmed to local media that she heard a loud noise as the plane climbed, and then the captain broadcast that the engine had exploded, but the other engine was running normally and asked everyone not to panic.

When all the dust settled, the white-haired captain walked out of the cockpit and spoke to all the passengers in person.

He said something that impressed everyone: “I know you were very nervous for a few minutes, and to be honest, we were a little nervous ourselves for a little while.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire cabin burst into warm applause.

About 20 minutes later, the plane was towed back to the gate, and passengers disembarked to see emergency rescue personnel standing by.

Delta Air Lines later issued a statement confirming that all 179 passengers, 4 flight attendants and 2 pilots on board were safe and no one was injured.

“The safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority and we deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,” the airline said.

In fact, before boarding the plane, the ground staff at the boarding gate half-jokingly reminded everyone: It’s windy today, so if you want a smooth journey, today may not be a good day.

Unexpectedly, this joke turned out to be a prophecy.

Eventually, all passengers were transferred to an alternative plane and arrived at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at around 3 a.m.

Although the journey was delayed for several hours, for these people who had had a brush with death, being able to step on the ground was already the biggest miracle.

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