Aviastar Tupolev TU-204F Catches Fire and Destroyed in China

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.

A cargo plane caught fire at #Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport at 4:40am today. The fire happened in the cabin when the plane was taxiing. 8 crew members were rescued from the plane. pic.twitter.com/sW31etaWoX

— Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) January 8, 2022

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.

Aviastar Tupolev Tu-204F (RA-64032, built 2002) was destroyed when a fire broke out inside the cabin during pushback for departure at Hangzhou Airport (ZSHC), China. The crew evacuated safely. Flight #4B6534 to Novosibirsk burnt to destructon.https://t.co/6mlGcrTXg2 pic.twitter.com/p3dohcXZue

— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) January 8, 2022

Eight crew members were evacuated safely. We will update this post when more related news arise.

Cover image: via JACDEC/Twitter