Boeing plane skids off runway in Senegal

A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at Senegal’s main airport, near the capital of Dakar. Ten people were injured in the crash, including the pilot, the country’s transport minister said Thursday.

Passengers were evacuated from the burning aircraft at Blaise Diagne International airport and some described “complete panic” as they scrambled for their lives.

The Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako, in neighboring Mali, late on Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, when the crash happened. The airport is located about 31 miles from Dakar.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the plane to catch fire and skid off the runway. The injured were being treated at a hospital, while the others were taken to a hotel to rest, the minister added.

Air Sénégal did not respond to a request for comment but posted a statement on the social media platform X, saying that flights between Dakar and Bamako were rescheduled to a later date, without providing further details.

It was the third incident involving a Boeing airplane this week. Also on Thursday, 190 people were safely evacuated from a plane in Turkey after one of its tires burst during landing at a southern airport, Turkey’s transportation ministry said.