British businessman spots burning engine after passenger flight lands

Shocking footage captured by a British businessman shows an Air Astana flight which caught fire on the tarmac with 99 people on board. The incident took place in Kazakhstan's Astana International Airport, on September 15 at 5pm shortly after lading.

During flight КС-982, filmer Mark Bates, 52, as well as other passengers on board, noticed a large amount of smoke coming out of the left engine a couple of minutes after landing. Bates was returning from work as a Health and Safety manager in Atyrau, Kazakhstan to his home in Thailand via Astana.

Bates said of the scene: “...we could tell it was a problem, however they didn't deploy the chutes from the other side of the plane and we had to watch through the windows in fear as a fire truck directed its water cannon on to the engine.”

In the video you can hear the pilot announcing in Russian: "Dear passengers, our left engine caught fire, which was extinguished. However, the engine is full of smoke, so we are kindly asking you to stay calm and remain on your seats."

Reports from other passengers claimed that airport crew brought the gangway stairs to the other side of the vehicle and started evacuating passengers approximately 10 minutes after the breakdown. Bates claimed also that airport staff tried to stop passengers from filming the smoking engine.

Bates later contacted Air Astana via Facebook and got a response saying: “Dear Mark, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused. The aircraft went through full preflight service. Passenger and crew safety is our priority. At the moment the incident is under investigation. The result will be soon released.”

Accordingly to the press office of Air Astana, nobody was injured. They also added: “As soon as our engineering team finds out what caused the problem, the investigation will start”.