Passengers evacuated in Okinawa after ANA plane makes emergency landing
Passengers were evacuated from an All Nippon Airways plane at Naha airport in Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday night after it encountered engine trouble midair and returned, the Japanese airline said, Kyodo reports.
All 152 passengers, including four infants, and six crew members evacuated the Boeing 737 using emergency slides onto a taxiway. Three passengers suffered minor injuries, the airline said.
"We offer our deepest apologies for the concern and inconvenience caused to the passengers aboard this flight and to all those affected," it said in a statement.
The Japan Transport Safety Board has designated three investigators to look into the matter.
A woman from the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka who said she was aboard the flight recalled hearing a "loud boom in the air." She added that she was upset after seeing another passenger apparently in pain after coming down the emergency slide.
A passenger in his 30s said, "I was worried we might crash, but I'm glad we survived."
Flight 1502, bound for Saga airport in Saga Prefecture on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu, was ascending when crew noticed an instrument indicating high oil temperatures in its right engine, according to the carrier. No smoke or fire was reported.
The plane made an emergency landing at around 10:05 p.m.
Earlier, Qazinform reported more than 1,400 flights had been canceled at airports across the United Kingdom following a technical failure at a NATS air traffic control facility.
