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British holidaymakers were injured evacuating a Thomas Cook plane in Egypt after smoke started coming from under a passenger's seat.

Flight MT519, which was due to take off from the Red Sea resort town of Hurghada to London Gatwick at 1.40am local time, was evacuated shortly before takeoff.

Thomas Cook said all 251 passengers and nine crew made it off the plane in what it called a 'controlled evacuation', though several travellers disagreed.

Passengers took to Twitter to broadcast the evacuation - complaining of several people being injured and blasting Thomas Cook for providing little information.

One user, Wendy Derek, wrote: 'This was not a controlled evacuation, it was an emergency one with people getting injured.

'They then left people standing by the plane.'

Claire McIlroy added: 'Sister's family stuck, brother-in-law injured during evacuation! More information on twitter than your rep is telling them!'

Airport sources said panic spread through the aircraft after smoke started coming from underneath a passenger's seat prior to takeoff.

That prompted the crew to order an emergency evacuation of the plane, causing a stampede for the exits.

A number of injuries were caused in the crush, with one passenger reportedly receiving a fracture, and others minor injuries, mainly bruises.

The cause of the smoke was identified to be a technical malfunction, the aircraft was examined and returned to service.

However, the airline decided to dispatch a replacement aircraft from Frankfurt, rather than get passengers back on board the previous jet.

The flight was delayed until 6pm on Thursday while passengers waited for the plane to arrive.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: 'Flight MT519 to London Gatwick carried out a controlled evacuation before take-off at Hurghada airport after the crew reported a smell of burning and smoke at the rear of the cabin.

'All 251 passengers and 9 crew members evacuated the aircraft using the emergency slides and were transported back to the terminal building.

'Our customers’ safety is always our top priority and we are very sorry for the delay.'


The scare comes almost exactly a week after a knifeman launched a fatal attack on bathers at a hotel in Hurghada in what is believed to have been a terrorist attack.

Abdel Rahman Shaban Abokorah, 28, swam from a neighbouring beach to Hurghada and spoke to his German victims in their native language before attacking them.

Four others, believed to have been from eastern Europe, were injured.

Thomas Cook said the smoke on board the plane was caused by a mechanical issue, and was not terror-related.

Why, oh why, do news reports have move from the facts and include other, totally unrelated, news as well!

A technical fault on a plane can happen any where. A manic stabbing can happen anywhere. Just because the two events happen in the same town in a short space of time does not warrant them being linked.

A number of injuries were caused in the crush, with one passenger reportedly receiving a fracture, and others minor injuries, mainly bruises.

And in the next sentence

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: 'Flight MT519 to London Gatwick carried out a controlled evacuation before take-off at Hurghada airport after the crew reported a smell of burning and smoke at the rear of the cabin.

I wonder how much hand luggage came out as well. In my experience of evacuating a single isle aircraft you go either up or down an isle, if you try and climb over seats that probably won't move then you're asking for trouble. But hey ho I wasn't there so I don't know what really happened, but the Daily Mail seem to know everything.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Egypt.html

Several friends of mine were on that flight and tell me it was a really frightening experience.

Most followed the crew's instructions and left the plane with nothing but what they were wearing....without even shoes in some cases. It was pretty chaotic.

Anyone who had left the plane without their passport was unable to leave the airport and, after some argument, passengers were allowed back onto the plane, 5 at a time, with security, in order to recover their passports and personal belongings.

I would imagine that even a controlled evacuation can quite easily turn into an uncontrolled stamped. The basic human nature is to survive and not consider others. Remember the passengers that were killed at Manchester in 1985? The fire erupted that quickly inside the cabin it was lucky that any survived. People remember, people panic in their fear, so act accordingly.

I know your supposed to leave your hand baggage behind in case of emergency, if my passport was in there which it usually is, I doubt I would have looked for it before I left the plane.