A plane belonging to a private Egyptian airline made an emergency landing at the Aktobe International Airport in Kazakhstan as a result of a false fire alarm, the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation announced Thursday.
The Egyptian plane was a Boeing 737/800, and was heading from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport to Nur-Sultan Airport in Kazakhstan.
About three and a half hours after takeoff alarm warnings went off showing that there was a fire in the aircraft’s baggage stores, a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority published on Facebook said.
“Immediately, this warning was addressed seriously, and all internationally applicable air safety rules were followed, which required extinguishing the fire and landing at the nearest airport,” the statement added.
According to the statement the pilot and co-pilot activated the fire extinguishing system, all alarm warnings on the plane stopped, and the nearest airport for landing was chosen – which was the Aktobe Airport in Kazakhstan.
The passengers were evacuated, and the baggage stores were evacuated.
The engineer accompanying the flight applied all maintenance and safety procedures with the airport firefighting forces on who examined and inspected the plane.
A malfunction of the fire detection system in the cockpit was confirmed and there was no trace of fire or smoke in any of the luggage stores, the statement added.
According to the statement, the Aktobe Airport authorities reviewed all the procedures taken, and the plane was authorized to take off again after ensuring that all international standards for maintenance and air safety were applied.
