A plane conveying members of the Arsenal women’s team has gutted fire in a runway in Germany.
The incident occurred on Sunday evening at the Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport while the team was returning home from their Champions League semi-final first leg clash against Wolfsburg.
The fire was reportedly caused by a bird which flew into the engine of the plane shortly before take off, causing a loud bang, Daily Mail reported.
The Arsenal team and other passengers were hurriedly evacuated by the pilots immediately flames started to come out of the left engine of the Boeing 737.
Confirming the incident on Monday in a statement, the club said;
“Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening.
“As a result, we remained in Wolfsburg overnight on Sunday before flying back to England on Monday afternoon. We would like to thank the staff onboard the aircraft and on the ground at the airport for their assistance.”
The had flown into Germany on Saturday on-board a Maltese airline, and were bound to fly back with the same airline on Sunday evening.
However, after the engine caught fire, the squad switched to a replacement airline to get back to England on Monday morning.
