A plane taking off at an airport in Peru caught on fire after it collided with a moving fire truck on the runway.
A LATAM Airlines jet, which was carrying 102 passengers and six crew members, struck a moving fire truck at Lima’s international airport on Friday afternoon.
Authorities said the plane’s passengers and crew were all safe, but two firefighters in the truck were killed.
Footage on social media showed huge black plumes of smoke near the back of the plane which was partially on fire.
It remains unclear why the fire truck entered the runway while the plane was taking off and the prosecutors’ office said
it was investigating the incident as potential manslaughter.
Both the plane and the fire truck were in motion when they collided.
Lima Airport Partners, the company that operates Jorge Chavez airport, said operations at the facility had been suspended and that the airport will remain closed until at least 1pm local time on Saturday.
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A video posted on Twitter by the Peruvian radio station Nacional shows the plane on fire on the runway before it grinds to a halt.
Luis Ponce La Jara, general commander of the fire department, confirmed that two firefighters were killed and one was injured when the collision happened.
Peru’s President Pedro Castillo expressed his “thoughts and my prayers” are with the families of the firefighters killed in the incident.
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The flight, LA2213, was taking off from Lima’s main airport en route to the Peruvian city of Juliaca.
This is the second incident in less than a month involving LATAM Airlines after one of its planes had its nose destroyed during a severe storm that forced it to make an emergency landing.
