LSRPictures - Fogo MD-90

Autoridades falam em explosão a bordo

TAIPÉ, Formosa (AP) -- Um avião de Formosa que realizava um vôo doméstico pegou fogo nesta terça-feira ao pousar, causando ferimentos em 28 das 96 pessoas a bordo. Pelo menos duas encontram-se em estado grave.

O acidente com o MD-90 da companhia UNI Airlines foi o segundo envolvendo aviões formosinos em apenas três dias.

O subdiretor da companhia, Si Chung-ching, contou que, no momento em que o MD-90 tocava a pista, houve um "barulho estranho" na frente da cabina e logo começou a sair fumaça negra do compartimento de bagagens.

Muitos passageiros sofreram queimaduras no rosto. Os dois casos mais graves -- um homem e uma mulher -- tiveram 60 por cento do corpo queimado.

Após uma investigação inicial, o ministro dos Transportes Lin Feng-chen disse que, aparentemente, aconteceu algum tipo de explosão. As autoridades, porém, ainda não determinaram qual foi a sua origem.

A versão foi confirmada pelo subdiretor do Departamento de Aviação Civil, Chang Kuo-cheng, que mencionou barulhos parecidos com o de explosões.

Testemunhas contaram ter visto um rastro de fogo na pista depois que o avião pousou no aeroporto de Hualien, a cerca de 180 quilômetros da capital de Formosa, Taipé, de onde havia decolado.

"Houve uma explosão sobre nós e muitas pessoas estavam com o rosto queimando ou com buracos nas roupas", contou um passageiro à emissora de televisão TVBS.

O avião transportava 90 passageiros e seis tripulantes.

No domingo, um MD-11 da companhia formosina China Airlines, procedente de Bangcoc, na Tailândia, começou a pegar fogo quando se aproximava do pouso em Hong Kong. Duas pessoas morreram e mais de 200 ficaram feridas.

(Copyright Associated Press. Todos os direitos reservados)

© CNN.com em portugues.

Jet catches fire while landing in central Taiwan
8 injured in second Taiwanese air disaster in 3 days

August 24, 1999
Web posted at: 8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 GMT)

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A jetliner burst into flames while landing in central Taiwan on Tuesday, in the second Taiwanese airline disaster in three days.

A UNI Airlines MD-90 caught fire on the runway in Taiwan's Hualien Airport, 110 miles (175 kilometers) southeast of Taipei. As the jet touched down, there was a loud noise from the front of the cabin, and thick black smoke poured out from one of the overhead luggage compartments, according to the airline's vice president, Si Chung-ching.

"There was an explosion above us, and many people had burns on their faces or holes in their clothes," one passenger told the TVBS cable station.

No one was killed. Of the 96 people aboard, 28 were hospitalized, including a man and woman who suffered severe burns.

Black smoke churned out of a gaping hole on the right side of the plane's fuselage, while aircraft insulation and charred luggage littered the runway. Passengers were swiftly evacuated from the MD-90 jet, but it took firefighters more than half an hour to douse the flames.

Authorities were not sure what caused the explosion and said they could not rule out a bomb. Police opened a criminal investigation to go along with an already launched safety probe.

On Sunday, another Taiwanese plane, a China Airlines MD-11, lurched sharply as it approached Hong Kong's airport, flipped over and burst into flames. Two people died, and 211 were injured in that accident.

U.S. safety investigators, along with a team from Taiwan, arrived in Hong Kong on Monday to join an investigation into the crash.

Initial reports suggest miscommunication between the Italian pilot and his Taiwanese co-pilot may have played a role in the decision to land despite typhoon conditions.

Chang Kuo-cheng, the deputy director general of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration, said the pilot tried to land in stormy crosswinds that exceeded his safety threshold after getting faulty information from his co-pilot.

The co-pilot, Liu Cheng-hsi, had told pilot Gerardo Lettich that the winds were blowing at 26 mph when they were actually 30 mph, Chang said.

"Whether Liu Cheng-hsi calculated wrong, or misread, or whether there was poor communication with the pilot -- that can be immediately discovered once the Hong Kong authorities analyze the cockpit voice recorder.

Investigators recovered the "black box" cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage Tuesday and sent it to England for further analysis.

Across the border in mainland China, an investigation continued into yet another aviation accident. On Monday, a Boeing 737 belonging to China Southern Airlines veered off the runway while leaving for Hong Kong. There were no reports of injuries, but operations at Shantou airport, north of Hong Kong, were briefly shut down.

Hong Kong Bureau Chief Mike Chinoy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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