A struggling Boeing 777 spilled fuel on the playground of an American elementary school southeast of Los Angeles on Tuesday, American media reported.
MCI | FS163 | 8000 Park Ave #Cudahy | BN 13 and 3 units on-scene elementary school assessing multiple patients after apparent fuel dump by aircraft on final approach to LAX hits playground.
– L.A. County Fire Department (@LACoFDPIO) January 14, 2020
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The facts took place in the Cudahy region, near Los Angeles, report our American colleagues from Fox News. 26 people, 17 children and 9 adults were affected, firefighters reported to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. None of them were hospitalized, according to fire officials. Los Angeles district says agency AP that some suffer from “skin irritations and breathing problems”.
“Engine problems”
Delta 89, a Boeing 777 “suffered engine problems” shortly after takeoff, forcing the aircraft to return to Los Angeles airport, a Delta Air Lines spokesperson told AFP.
This Delta Airlines aircraft was arriving from Los Angeles International Airport to Shanghai. The aircraft touched down around 12 o’clock without damage, but had previously dropped fuel to lighten up for a possible emergency landing.
This fuel fell on an elementary school in Cudahy, 25 km east of the airport. Seventeen children and nine adults complaining of skin irritation were treated on the spot by the emergency services and “no hospitalization was necessary”, emphasized the firemen, confirming that the substance in question was indeed fuel for plane.
The Los Angeles school district said the students and school staff were in the yard at the time of the incident. They “may have been sprayed with fuel or inhaled fumes,” he said in a statement, adding that he immediately called for help.
An open investigation
The fuel, dropped “relatively low” according to firefighters, also fell on another school south of Los Angeles, apparently with no significant impact on the health of students or staff.
The American agency responsible for controlling civil aviation, the FAA, announced on Twitter that it has opened an investigation into this accident, recalling that “there are specific procedures concerning the dropping of fuel for aircraft departing or arriving from all the major American airports. “
“These procedures require that the fuel be dropped over well-identified uninhabited areas, usually at high altitudes so that the fuel vaporizes and disperses before touching the ground,” the agency said.
70 firefighters and members of the rescue teams were deployed on the spot, to provide care to the many lightly injured. The firefighters confirmed on Twitter that the substance spilled on the school was indeed fuel.
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