Passengers escape flight via slides after 'loud boom' and mid-air emergency in Japan

Passengers escape flight via slides after 'loud boom' and mid-air emergency in Japan Passengers evacuated a Nippon Airways flight on emergency slides in Okinawa, Japan, after it was forced to make an emergency landing due to engine trouble A "loud boom" was heard on a plane which made an emergency landing in Japan due to engine trouble. Passengers leapt down emergency slides at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan, on Wednesday after Nippon Airways flight 1502 had to turn around and pilots shut down one engine. Three people are understood to have suffered scrapes as they evacuated the Boeing 737-800, but the rest of the 152 passengers and six crew got off safely. Images show people getting off the plane in near darkness on the runway amid shouts and screams. Emergency services were waiting at the scene but there was no fire or smoke from the plane. The plane, operated by group airline ANA Wings, began to signal a warning that the right engine was running hot and began to vibrate around 20 minutes into the flight to Saga. A passenger from Fukuoka said: “I heard a loud boom in the air.” The cabin crew shut the right engine down and turned around with the plane landing shortly after 10pm local time. Everyone then left by the evacuation slides. ANA said the three injuries were minor and nobody required an ambulance. One passenger said: “I thought of my child’s life and I tensed up. The child kept crying and saying they were scared.” While a crew member told firefighters: “There was a little vibration in the aircraft.” The airline operator ANA said: “We offer our deepest apologies for the concern and inconvenience caused to the passengers aboard this flight and to all those affected.” The original Naha to Fukuoka flight was running late, and as the airport in Fukuoka shuts to arrivals at 10pm, ANA had cancelled it and put passengers on a stand-in service to nearby Saga instead. After the plane returned to Naha Airport, passengers were put on a flight to Fukuoka the next morning. Japan’s transport ministry has classed the case as a serious incident. Investigator Makoto Senoo is in charge of the probe with his team arriving today to take the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, while the airline says it is still looking into the exact cause.