127 passengers escape death as Plane tire burst into flames

At least 127 passengers on board an aircraft narrowly escaped death in South Africa on Tuesday.

The chartered aircraft had to abort take-off when one of its wheels caught fire Tuesday at South Africa’s main O.R. Tambo international airport on Tuesday, an airport official said.

“Global Aviation which was en route to Lilongwe, Malawi aborted take-off because one of its tyres apparently got alight,” airport spokeswoman Unathi Batyashe- Fillis told AFP.

The fire was extinguished and no injuries were reported among the 120 passengers and seven crew.

The flight was scheduled to take off at 7:30am (0530 GMT) from the airport’s cargo section.

The spokeswoman was not immediately clear about the type of aircraft involved.