Europe Asia News

Passengers were transported to the terminal by bus. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it is actively investigating the incident.

One passenger said the terrifying event happened just before the plane was about to take off.

A passenger named Tsurkis said, “As the plane was about to take off, we heard a loud bang and I said, ‘That’s not good.’ It was definitely an unpleasant moment, but we were lucky we hadn’t lifted off yet — I’d guess it was about five to ten seconds before takeoff.”

Tsurkis said the pilots immediately began slowing the aircraft down and brought it to a stop. “About a minute later, other passengers noticed smoke coming from the plane and evacuation procedures started shortly after,” he added.

American Airlines stated that the plane “experienced a maintenance issue with one of its tires prior to takeoff” and was taken out of service for inspection. Later that evening, fire crews confirmed they had extinguished the fire.