The driver of a refueling truck at Düsseldorf Airport caused a full-scale emergency on Saturday morning after reversing into a bollard next to a parked airplane full of passengers and piercing the side of the tanker.
As jet fuel started to spill onto the tarmac beside the aircraft, passengers onboard were ordered to leave the airplane as quickly as possible via the airbridge, which was still attached to the side of the plane.
Passengers had already boarded the Eurowings flight to Barcelona and watched the BP refueling truck drive into the bollard before receiving the order to leave their belongings behind and get off the plane.
Along with the passengers on the Eurowings plane, airport authorities also ordered passengers on an adjacent Vueling Airbus A320 to evacuate into the terminal via the air bridge.
The airport fire service quickly responded to the incident and used special absorption pads to clear up the spillage.
Eyewitness video footage obtained by cabin crew blogger ‘A Fly Guy’s Cabin Crew Lounge’ showed the jet fuel spewing out of the tanker and flooding the surrounding area as passengers were ordered off the two planes.
A spokesperson for Düsseldorf Airport said that the rest of the airport remained operational during the incident and once the fire service had finished its clean up operations, the two delayed flights were allowed to depart without further incident.
Late last month, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 was badly damaged after it was struck by a catering truck that had been driving behind the aircraft as it was being towed to a gate at Seattle Tacoma International Airport on September 23.
Thankfully, there were no passengers onboard the aircraft at the time of the accident and there were no reported injuries. The plane did, however, need to be taken out of service for inspection and potentially extensive repairs.
