Firefighters at a Chinese airport have been commended for their speedy action after reports of a plane on fire on the tarmac, but mistakenly sprayed the wrong aircraft with foam.
The bizarre incident caused a partial shutdown at Fuzhou airport, delaying 30 flights.
An Air China Boeing 737-800 reported problems with one of its engines and fire crews raced to the scene.
The plane’s engines were switched off but a nearby Fuzhou Airlines 737-800 also on the taxiway readying for take-off had visible exhaust fumes showing and was sprayed mistakenly by fire trucks.
Firefighters were quickly alerted to the error by airport officials.
However the damage had been done and the Fuzhou Airlines plane was heavily delayed while it underwent a safety check.
The Fuzhou aircraft was the same Boeing 737 model as the Air China plane; no casualties were reported, an airport statement said.
Eight fire trucks had reached the scene within four minutes, the airport said, and after realising the error, ‘quickly turned their attention to the correct plane, but the other one with passengers aboard was delayed 10 hours and the entire incident delayed 30 flights’.
