British Airways is reportedly attributing to a “technical issue” the evacuation of an Airbus A321 whose cabin appeared to fill with smoke or mist during approach to Valencia Airport yesterday (5 August).
Reports across media outlets and posts on social media taken by passengers that were on the flight from London Heathrow Airport, show visibility was reduced in the smoke-filled cabin.
The A321 did land at Valencia at around 18.45h much to the relief of the 175 passengers and eight crew members on board.
Twitter user @lucyaabrown, who it appears was on the aircraft, tweeted: “@British_Airways terrifying experience on flight to Valencia. Felt like horror film. Thankfully everyone safe. Flight filled with smoke and had to be emergency evacuated.”
Evacuation slides were deployed from six of the eight exits, reports claim.
Three passengers were taken to hospital as a precaution, BA said but all were soon discharged.
BA says the aircraft “experienced a technical issue” during the approach and was met by airport emergency services.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our highest priority,” the airline adds. “In addition to our team on site, other British Airways team members have arrived in Valencia to help our customers and our local airport partners with anything they need.”
(Picture credit: Twitter/ @lucyaabrown)
