Aircraft fire under investigation

The plane was en route to Toronto

Air accident investigators have been examining a plane which caught fire as it landed at Manchester Airport.

More than 200 passengers escaped down emergency chutes from the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) jet on Tuesday morning.

The Boeing 777 from Karachi was taxiing on the runway when a fire started in the undercarriage, the airport said.

After initial examinations, the plane was towed away. Passengers left on a replacement aircraft at about 1700 GMT.

The feeling was just that I got a second life Passenger Mujahid Bhati

Flight PK789 was making a refuelling stop en route to Toronto, Canada, with 220 passengers and 12 crew on board.

Passenger Mujahid Bhati told BBC North West Tonight that he was sitting at the back end of the plane when the evacuation began.

He said: "From the plane it is about 50 or 60ft high.

"I just jumped, saw my mum and kids out. Everybody did the same thing.

"The feeling was just that I got a second life. It could have happened five or 10 minutes earlier, before landing, then I would not be standing here."

Pilot saw fire

A report blamed four similar fires involving PIA jets last year on the wrong grease being used by the airline.

The report followed three fires at Manchester - one in May 2004 and two in June 2004 - and a fourth in Toronto, Canada, also in June 2004.

Since then the airline has changed the grease it uses and it is not yet known what caused Tuesday's fire.

The flight had landed just after 0900 GMT and passengers were due to disembark at Terminal Two when a fire was spotted by the pilot of another plane.

Greater Manchester Ambulance Service said ambulance crews saw 33 passengers and seven were taken to hospital to be treated for "relatively minor" injuries.

Five were taken to Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, and two to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.