Plane that caught fire was accelerating

LAS VEGAS — Officials released more details Wednesday on a dramatic British Airways airplane fire in Las Vegas as they investigate how an aircraft accelerating for takeoff could suddenly erupt into flames — or whether it could happen again.

The London-bound plane was speeding down the runway Tuesday afternoon when it caught fire, forcing the pilot to hit the brakes. The blaze sent smoke pouring from an engine and led the aircraft’s crew and 157 passengers to flee down emergency slides, which officials said deployed properly.

At a news conference, officials lauded the emergency response but noted more people were hurt than previously reported. Twenty-seven people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, most with cuts, bruises, burns and scrapes from the evacuation slides. At least two complained of smoke inhalation.

The evacuation took only minutes and appeared orderly, with some passengers even making it out with their luggage. They then hurried across the tarmac as flames leaped from the Boeing 777-200 and dark black smoke billowed.

The radio call from the plane’s pilot to the air traffic control tower was brief, calm and to the point.

The pilot can be heard saying “mayday, mayday” before he asks for firefighting help. A moment later, he calmly tells the tower: “We are evacuating on the runway. We have a fire. I repeat. We are evacuating.”

Clark County fire officials said they had fire engines rolling within 45 seconds of a 4:13 p.m. call from the tower. They had water on the fire within two minutes, and by 4:18 it was out.

Fire officials said it could have been a lot worse but the blaze was confined to the left engine, and there was no wheel or brake fire.

A National Transportation Safety Board team was traveling to Las Vegas from Washington, D.C., to investigate, an agency spokesman said.