777-200 was preparing to take off shortly after 4pm (local time) on Tuesday when its left engine caught fire, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky. The blaze sent smoke pouring from an engine and led the aircraft’s crew and 157 passengers to flee down emergency slides, which fire officials said deployed properly.

McCarran global Airport spokesman Chris Jones says the 159 passengers and 13 crew members on the British Airways flight had gotten off the plane.

At a press conference, an airport spokeswoman told reporters 14 people had been treated for minor injuries.

Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Jon Klassen said the cause of the fire was not clear yet, but the fire did not appear to have breached the cabin.

Passengers on the British Airways jet whose engine caught fire just before takeoff in Las Vegas escaped with their lives – and some with their carry-ons, as well. She looked out the window and could see “bursts of flames coming out of the middle of the plane”.

“The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority and we are looking after those who were on board the BA2276 from Las Vegas to London Gatwick“, the airline said in a statement. The crew immediately aborted the takeoff and terrified passengers scrambled off the burning plane using emergency slides.

The fire temporarily delayed flights across the western US. Smoke was seen on both sides of the plane.

An Essex man was among those on board a plane which caught fire on the runway of Las Vegas’ airport.

The CCFD briefing also came on the same day that a National Transportation Safety Board team arrived to investigate the jet.

“I was wondering if the plane had exploded or something”, Abarca said.

“British Airways said it would be organising alternative flights for the passengers, and had provided them with accommodation”. McCarran said its flight operations would continue on its three other runways, though the FAA ordered all inbound air traffic from several other airports held at their points of origin, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Las Vegas’ airport is the ninth-busiest in the USA and had almost 43 million passengers past year.

In a distress call the plane’s captain asked for the airport’s emergency services: “Speedbird Mayday Mayday”. “We are evacuating on the runway, we have a fire, I repeat, we are evacuating”. It has been adding gates to meet increased demand for direct flights to Europe and Asia.