On 8th January an Aviastar Tupolev Tu-204F catches on fire during pushback at Hangzhou International Airport in China.
According to Avherald, the 19.5 years-old aircraft was about to perform freight flight 4B-6534 from Hangzhou, China to Novosibirsk, Russia with 20 tons of general cargo and 26 tons of fuel, which was being pushed back for departure when an open fire started in the cabin.
Emergency services responded, upon arrival of emergency services about 2 minutes after the emergency call the fire had already broken through the crown of the aircraft. The aircraft is broken into 3 pieces and damaged beyond repair.
Eight crew members were evacuated safely. We will update this post when more related news arise.
Cover image: via JACDEC/Twitter
Rumor has it a power bank in crew luggage caught fire.
So glad the crewmembers are safe. Can you imagine if that fire broke out while airborne?
If it was built in 2002, the aircraft is 19 years old, not 29.5
thank you, we have updated info.