Manila Medevac plane explosion kills eight on takeoff

A medical evacuation plane exploded in a ball of flames during the takeoff in the Philippine capital, Manila, on Sunday, killing all eight passengers and crew on board.

The Lion Air plane – bound from Manila to Haneda, Japan – burst into flames at the end of the runway at about 8pm (12:00 GMT), the capital’s main airport said.

Video footage showed a huge plume of smoke rising into the night sky as fire crews doused the fuselage with foam.

The twin-jet West Wind 24 was carrying three medical personnel, three flight crew, a patient and a companion, Richard Gordon, a senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross, said on Twitter.

Manila airport general manager Ed Monreal told a news conference two of the eight on board were foreigners – one American and one Canadian – and the rest were Filipinos.

“There were no survivors,” Monreal said.

An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines was under way, the Manila International Airport said in a statement.

Most passenger aircraft at the airport have been grounded for weeks since the government put Manila and the rest of the main Philippine island of Luzon under lockdown to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.