Debris from Lion Air medical evacuation plane that exploded on takeoff (Reuters)
Manila:
A medical evacuation plane detonated during takeoff in the Philippine capital on Sunday, killing all eight passengers and crew, including an American and a Canadian.
The aircraft, which belongs to a charter service Lionair registered in the Philippines, had flown to Haneda, Japan, but went up in flames at the end of the runway at around 8 p.m. (1200 GMT), Manila's main airport said.
Indonesian airline Lion Air made a statement stating that it had nothing to do with Lionair in Manila.
Video footage showed a huge cloud of smoke rising into the night sky as firefighters poured foam over the fuselage.
The West Wind 24 twin jet aircraft carried three medical workers, three flight crews, one patient and one companion, said Richard Gordon, Senator and Head of the Filipino Red Cross, on Twitter.
"Unfortunately, no passenger survived the accident," said the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) in a statement.
An investigation by the Philippines Civil Aviation Authority is ongoing, MIAA said.
The runway was temporarily blocked, which affected an incoming Korean Air flight that was diverted to Clark Airport in the north by Philip. The aircraft, which belonged to a charter company Lionair registered in the Philippines, had flown to Haneda, Japan, but went up in flames at the end of the year. The runway at 8:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), Manila's main airport, said. Pine said MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal.
The goal is to reopen the runway about two hours after midnight, he said in a press conference.
Monreal confirmed that one American and one Canadian citizen were among those killed, but could not provide any further details. The other six were all Filipinos, he said.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
