A DARK DAY
ON August 22, 1985, a Corfu-bound British Airtours 737 caught fire on the runway and take-off was abandoned, but passengers became trapped as flames engulfed the rear of the plane.
Fifty-five people lost their lives that day; most of the victims died from inhaling toxic smoke.
A report concluded the explosion had been caused by an ‘uncontained failure of the left engine’.
This was down to the failure of a combustor can which had been repaired. A section of it was ejected from the engine, struck and fractured an underwing fuel tank access panel. The fire then developed ‘catastrophically’ because the aircraft parked up in a strong wind.
Of the 131 passengers and six crew on board, 52 passengers and two cabin crew died. A further passenger, who was found alive but unconscious in the aisle died from lung damage six days later.
Only 47 per cent of those engulfed in dense smoke survived - and of these, eight collapsed during evacuation. Two of those were dragged on to a slide by the surviving hostess. A boy of 14 was pulled out of the right over-wing exit by a fireman.
In 2015, 30 years after the tragedy, relatives attended a remembrance service at the airport, where a memorial stands. Relatives also received an apology from Manchester Airport and BA after campaigning.
At the time the M.E.N. spoke to survivors. John Beardmore, 72, said: “The scars never heal - sometimes even when I’m driving or doing things something will trigger off a flash point and your memory and you just can’t help that and you just have to learn to live with it.”