British Airways flight evacuated after smoke engulfs cabin

BRITISH AIRWAYS B747-436 G-CIVU (CN 25810)

A British Airways flight travelling from London (LHR/EGLL) to Valencia (VLC/LEVC) was evacuated just off of the runway at Valencia airport yesterday when smoke filled the cabin. Footage shared on social media shows the cabin was completely engulfed in smoke. The cause of the smoke is currently unknown but was severe enough to reduce visibility in the cockpit. The flight was operated by an Airbus A321. The flight was scheduled to depart from Heathrow at 15:15 but didn’t get underway until 15:48. Despite the late departure time, the aircraft made up most of its time in the air. In fact, it only landed on runway 12 at Valencia four minutes late at 18:44. The flight time was 1-hour and 56-minutes. It appears from the footage shown on social media that the oxygen masks were not deployed. Terrified passengers evacuated the aircraft using the emergency slides and were ushered away by firemen. One British passenger told of the panic on-board the Airbus A321 jet as acrid smoke began pouring into the cabin around 15 minutes before landing.
“In the space of 10 to 15 seconds it seemed the cabin was completely filled with smoke," “It smelled of burning and it stuck in your throat. “It quickly got to the point where you couldn’t see more than three rows in front. “People were panicking and children were crying.
“There were no oxygen masks and barely any information. It was very frightening.” He said after landing passengers were held on the runway for up to five minutes until a fire engine arrived — though it “felt much longer”. He went on: “There were lots of families with kids on-board. People were shouting, ‘What’s going on?’ “Nobody was really taking charge of the situation. “Suddenly, the crew sprung into action and they got everyone off down the slides. “People were crying and looked very shaken up. They told us to get as far away as possible, and we ran to a grassy area. Then they put us on a bus to the terminal.

British Airways response

In the latest statement from British Airways they said:
Flight BA422 from Heathrow to Valencia experienced a technical issue on its landing approach into Valencia. All our customers were evacuated safely by our crew and met by the airport’s emergency services.  There were 175 customers on board the flight, with six cabin crew and two pilots. Three customers were taken to hospital as a precaution and have since been discharged.
The safety of our customers and crew is always our highest priority. 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.


Aircraft Information
Airline: British Airways
Code: BA/BAW
Aircraft: Airbus A321-231
Registration: G-MEDM
Serial Number: 2799
Engines: 2 x IAE V2533-A5
First Flew: 29/05/2006
Age: 13 Yrs 2 Mts