Seoul:
The rear part of a passenger plane caught fire on Tuesday at an airport in South Korea, forcing the evacuation of 176 people on board, the authorities said.
The Air Busan aircraft, an Airbus A321, would fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern Busan, but flew around 10:15 am local time (1315 GMT), the Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated by inflatable slides, said it.
The statement did not provide information about the cause of the fire, except to say that the broke at the back of the aircraft.
The National Fire Agency said that three people were somewhat injured during the evacuation. The fire was completely extinguished at 11:31 pm local time, it said.
South Korea suffered the worst aerial tramp on its ground last month when a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800, who flew from Thailand to Muan on December 29, crashed and exploded in a fire ball after beating in a concrete barrier.
That crash killed 179 of the 181 passengers and crew members on board.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)