Carrying 85 People, Boeing 737 Plane Burns at Senegal Airport

DAKAR – A Boeing 737-300 aircraft, carrying 85 people, caught fire and skidded on the runway at Senegal’s main airport on Wednesday evening.

According to the local Ministry of Transport, the accident at the airport near the Senegalese capital; Dakar, this resulted in 10 people being injured. That includes the pilot.

Passengers were evacuated from the burning plane at Blaise Diagne International Airport and some described “complete panic” as they tried to escape.

The burning Boeing 737-800 belonged to Air Sénégal which is operated by TransAir.

The flight was heading to Bamako, Mali, on Wednesday evening with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, when the crash occurred. This airport is located about 31 miles from Dakar.

It is not yet clear what caused the plane to catch fire and skid off the runway. Some of the injured were treated in hospital, and others were taken to hotels to rest.

Passengers jumped off the emergency slide that night when flames burned down one side of the plane. Screams were heard everywhere, said Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko, who filmed the passengers’ suffering with his cell phone camera.

“I saw my life flash before my eyes,” he said.

“I think about my mother, my wife, my children,” continued Sissoko (39), to The Associated Press from the hotel where the passengers were recovering from the shock, Friday (10/5/2024).