Evacuation of Ryanair plane at Palma airport in Mallorca leaves 18 people with minor injuries

A fire alert on a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which was on the ground at Palma airport on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca, prior to take-off to cover the route connecting to Manchester, has left 18 people with minor injuries.

The incident happened at 00.36am this Saturday morning, when the SAMU 061 emergency coordination centre received an alert about a possible fire onboard a plane on the ground at Son Sant Joan airport.

Apparently, no flames were visible. However, the aircraft's crew decided to evacuate the passengers.

When that happened, there were moments of high tension, as some of the passengers on board the plane panicked and tried to get out in their droves. Some reportedly jumped to the ground from the emergency exits over the wings.

The SAMU 061 coordination centre mobilised four ambulances to the scene, two advanced life support (ALS) and two basic life support (BLS) ambulances. Firefighters from Palma airport and members of the Guardia Civil were also on the scene.

As a result of the incident, a total of 18 people were slightly injured, and six of them had to be taken to hospital, three to the Clínica Rotger and three to the Hospital Quirónsalud Palmaplanas.

Ryanair said in a statement, “A flight from Palma to Manchester discontinued take-off due to a false fire warning light indication. Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal. While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.) and crew requested immediate medical assistance. To minimise disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 07:05 this morning. We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”