"Stampede" of passengers evacuating Miami-bound flight when laptop catches fire: video
MIAMI — Passengers on a flight from California landed in South Florida on Saturday morning after they were told to evacuate the plane the day before when a fire coming from a laptop bag filled the aircraft's cabin with smoke, with new video showing their escape.
American Airlines Flight 2045 was preparing to fly from San Francisco International Airport to Miami International Airport around noon Friday, according to flight records obtained by CBS News Bay Area.
However, as the Airbus A321 was about to pull away from the gate, multiple reports on social media said the plane cabin began to fill with smoke, forcing an emergency evacuation of the aircraft.
American Airlines later confirmed that crew members reported a fire in the back of the plane when they called in a mayday, with the smoke originating from a passenger's laptop.
"It's American 2045," the pilot said over the radio. " We got a Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. There's a fire in the back of the aircraft. Start the fire rescue."
"The bag was quickly removed by our crew members and all customers exited the aircraft," the airline stated. "We thank our crew members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."
The flight was delayed by about 11 hours after evacuation, departing around 11:45 p.m. from SFO and landing at MIA just before 8:50 a.m. Saturday.
CBS News Miami spoke with passengers on that flight, who described the "stampede" of people trying to get off the plane.
"It was just chaos," said passenger Maxine. "They were pushing people aside."
"The flight attendants were like remain calm," said Maria Cheirano, another passenger. "And at one point you were like I can no longer remain calm. Because people are leaving."
Oliver Jankai said he could smell something burning before a backpack belonging to someone behind him lit fire.
"There was fire. Like a shot flame," he said. "Like a flash flame."
Jankai couldn't find a fire extinguisher, so he tried to throw the backpack out of the plane, despite flight attendants telling them not to. His son opened up a side door.
"It was getting so dense [with] smoke in the back of the cabin that we couldn't really breathe," said Jankai's son Jan. "So, I just decided on my own to open the door."
Jan shared a video of the evacuation with CBS News Miami, where passengers frantically tried to leave the plane as quickly as possible.
"It was still a little bit on fire, so we tried to step it out," Jankai added. "[I] tried to throw it out, [a flight crewmember] said 'No, don't throw it out.' My son dropped it because he took it before and then I said 'No, okay.' And then, I shoot it out the plane."
Fellow passengers said they were thankful for what the Jankais did and that the fire didn't start while they were in the air.
"They saved us all of us, And we got to safety," Cheirano said.
Officials said three people suffered minor injuries during the incident with one passenger requiring transport for treatment. It's unclear if they were able to make it to the rebooked flight.
The FAA is currently investigating the circumstances of the incident.
