Alliance Airlines plane full of passengers at Moranbah Airport, Queensland
A fire breaks out on a plane at the Australian airport with 77 passengers on board
- Alliance Airlines plane engine caught fire
- Was preparing to take off with 77 passengers
- Authorities investigating the incident at Moranbah Airport
A plane carrying dozens of passengers has caught fire on the tarmac of a busy airport as it prepared for takeoff.
Emergency services were called to Moranbah Airport in central Queensland around 6.20pm on Wednesday evening after initial reports of an aircraft setting on fire on the tarmac.
The fire, believed to be in the tail of the plane, was extinguished before firefighters arrived.
About 77 passengers were on board Alliance Airlines Flight F70 as it prepared to take off for Brisbane.
No one was injured.
Everyone on board safely exited the plane and the flight was cancelled.
Fire broke out in one of the engines of an Alliance Airlines plane at Moranbah Airport
‘So we end the week at work with a bit of drama, the plane we just got on to fly home started emitting smoke from one of the engines!! So we all disembark!’ a passenger wrote.
The fire is believed to have started from a fuel leak in the exhaust.
“We supervised the aircraft and left it in the hands of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau,” a spokesman for the Queensland fire and emergency services said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has launched an investigation.
Dozens of planes fly in and out of the mining town of Moranbah every day.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Alliance Airlines for comment.
The emergency occurred at Moranbah Airport (pictured) in central Queensland