British Airways plane catches fire at Las Vegas McCarran Airport
Kate DeMaria, a passenger waiting for her own flight at the Las Vegas McCarran Airport, took this photo. She said the scene was "very scary to see while waiting for your own flight!" Kate DeMaria, Las Vegas McCarran Airport, eye witness

A group of irate passengers, who escaped a plane fire in September in a British Airways flight, has sued Boeing Co (NYSE.BA) and GE Aviation for the trauma they suffered in the London-bound flight at Las Vegas.

The passengers had a narrow escape and had to run away from the burning plane before its takeoff. Boeing is the manufacturer of the plane while GE Aviation made its engine.

According to the London-based law firm, Stewarts Law, it filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the two companies on behalf of 65 passengers who suffered physical and emotional distress, reports Associated Press.

Narrow escape

The Boeing 777-200 was readying for takeoff at McCarran International Airport on Sept. 8 for a 10-hour journey to London. Suddenly, flames burst out of the left engine and smoke engulfed the cabins forcing the passengers to flee for safety. However, all the 157 passengers and 13 crew members on board survived.

The majority of the passengers who signed up for the lawsuit are Britishers while six are Americans. The law firm claimed that the number of plaintiffs will soon grow to 100 passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its study, detected the cause of the fire as the failure in the spool of high-pressure compressor. The spool is the vital part that powers the plane.

Complicity of companies

The lawsuit alleged that the plane was "defective and unreasonably dangerous," and the two companies were aware that the parts were prone to “fracture and failure.” It specifically charged GE Aviation of having canvassed against inspections of the engine before the fire, reports The Guardian.

Quoting a Federal Aviation Administration directive of 2011 that warned of cracks in weld joints of compressor fan spools, the law firm alleged that GE Aviation tried to ignore the directive. Boeing's spokesman Tom Kim refused to comment on the litigation.

However, Rick Kennedy, GE Aviation's spokesman said the company is yet to see the lawsuit to make a comment. But he claimed the GE90 engine model is one of the best jet engines in commercial aviation's history.

“We continue to monitor and analyse the daily performance of more than 2,000 GE90 engines in airline service and we are not aware of any issues that would hazard the safe flight of aircraft powered by those engines,” Kennedy added.

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