Panic on Ryanair flight to Manchester Airport after fire alert leaves 18 injured and 6 in hospital

Ryanair’s Boeing 737 to Manchester Airport was evacuated at 12.36am last night before it was due to take off from Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma due to a fire alert.

The flight was ‘discontinued’ due to the false fire warning light indication, according to Ryanair.

Passengers were evacuated through the emergency exits, with some passengers, ‘acting out of fear’, jumping from the wings directly to the ground to reach safety, leading to some injuries.

Some 18 passengers were left with minor injuries, with 6 sent to hospitals in the island.

Early this morning, a spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre said: “We received an alert about a fire on a plane on the ground at Palma airport at 00.36am today.

“Four ambulances were sent to the scene which were two basic life support units and two advanced life support unit.

“Eighteen people were injured and received medical assistance of whom six were taken to hospital.

“They were all minor. Three went to the Clinica Rotger and three to the Palmaplanas Hospital.”

In a statement, Ryanair said: “This flight from Palma to Manchester (4 July) 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.”