Retired British Airways plane catches fire at airport in Spain

Dhaka: A retired British Airways 747 aircraft caught fire near its cockpit while being dismantled at a regional airfield in Spain on November 23.

“Emergency services quickly extinguished the fire on one of our retired aircraft, which occurred during the dismantling process,” said British Airways in a statement. “No injuries were reported.”

The Boeing 747 had been “retired from service for some time” and was no longer owned by BA, the airline added. The plane’s new owners were having the aircraft dismantled at Castellón Airport, located about 62 miles up the coast of the Balearic Sea from Valencia.

Video on social media shows black smoke billowing from the plane’s cockpit as sirens blared in the background.

It is believed the fire was caused after aircraft insulation caught a spark from dismantling equipment while it was parked on a remote stand for dismantling, BA said.

Castellón Airport tweeted a picture of firefighters spraying the plane with what appeared to be a water cannon mounted on a firetruck.

“Castellón Airport firefighters and Provincial Fire Consortium Castellon worked together to extinguish a fire in an aircraft,” the airport said. “There have been no injuries to regret and the fire is already confined.