Dramatic moment huge fire breaks out next to British Airways plane at Heathrow Airport as passengers queue to board
A FIRE dramatically broke out yards from a passenger jet full of fuel – sparking fears of a deadly explosion – at the UK’s busiest airport.
Shocking footage shared with The Sun showed a vehicle engulfed in flames next to a British Airways aircraft ready for boarding.
Up to 170 passengers were queuing to take their seats via portable aircraft steps attached to the plane which turned into a blazing inferno.
Firefighters raced to the scene and doused the flames as airport insiders told The Sun: “It was a very, very lucky escape.”
A probe was urgently under way last night to determine how the DHL-owned vehicle suddenly caught ablaze around 6.15pm on Monday.
Families and business travellers were waiting to catch Flight BA426 to Naples and looked on in horror.
The Airbus A320 plane was “moments” from going up in flames. Despite not catching fire the aircraft was immediately taken out of service for precautionary safety checks.
BA bosses replaced the service with another A320 jet, which took off for Italy around 8pm.
Smoke was seen billowing across Terminal 5 at Heathrow after the shocking incident.
Emergency services raced to the scene from across the airport and surrounding counties.
Firefighters trained their explosive water hoses on the jet and ground services vehicle to douse the flames.
A source told The Sun: “The fire really took hold and it was so near to the jet and its monster fuel tanks and engines.
“The blaze could have been a hell of a lot worse. If the firefighters had not been on the scene so quickly then there could have been an almighty explosion.
“Passengers were due on those steps minutes after it turned into a fireball. This was a shocking and highly irregular incident.”
Last week The Sun told how a fire on a Swissport Ground Handling vehicle, appeared to have caught hold underneath a giant wing tip at Edinburgh Airport.
BA told The Sun about the latest Heathrow blaze tonight: “Emergency services quickly extinguished a small fire of a third party ground vehicle. No customers were impacted and there were no injuries.”