Passenger speaks out after United Airlines flight evacuated at LAX for reported fire
Hundreds of passengers aboard a United Airlines flight bound for New Jersey are safe after the plane made an emergency landing back at Los Angeles International Airport due to an apparent engine fire on Monday.
Videos obtained by ABC News showed smoke billowing from the engine after the plane landed. The incident prompted a temporary ground stop at the airport.
Flight 2127 departed for Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday morning just before noon local time and "safely returned to Los Angeles to address a possible engine fire," United Airlines told ABC News in a statement.
The carrier confirmed that no one was seriously injured, aside from a couple of minor cuts that required only bandages.
"Customers deplaned via slides and airstairs and were bused to the terminal," the carrier stated. "We are grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their quick actions to keep our customers safe."
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had taken off from LAX when passengers felt a sudden bumpy vibration, followed by visible flames from the left engine, according to passenger Harry Gestetner.
"A few minutes after takeoff there was sort of this -- very bumpy feeling," Gestetner described in an interview. "One of the engines was on fire on the left-hand side."
Gestetner, who said he was in the emergency exit row, recalled the panic inside the cabin and said he heard a flight attendant repeat, "Oh my God, oh my God, I've never seen this before. This is really bad."
According to air traffic control audio, the flight crew told controllers they had "one engine shutdown" before requesting an evacuation after continued fire warnings.
Flight attendants instructed the 256 passengers to leave all bags behind as they exited onto the taxiway using the emergency slides and airstairs.
United arranged for a different aircraft to take the passengers to Newark.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident.
