LOS ANGELES- On Tuesday, a Delta Airline jet dumped fuel on an elementary school playground on the flight path as it was making an emergency landing at the Los Angeles International Airport.
The incident inflicted minor injuries on 9 adults and 17 children, according to local and federal authorities.
According to the LA County Fire Department, the injuries were all minor and none of the suburban Cudahy’s Park Avenue Elementary School victims required hospitalisation.
Not long after takeoff, the flight to Shanghai from LAX experienced an engine issue forcing it to return to LAX quickly. The release of fuel, a normal procedure for reaching a safe landing weight, landed safely in LAX.
Delta Airlines said that they were in touch with the LA World Airports and the County Fire Department and shared concerns about the minor injuries that the children and adults in the school reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a thorough investigation of the circumstances behind the incident, adding that the flight may not have followed the rules of fuel-dumping.
There are special procedures for aircraft operation in fuel-dumping scenarios into and out of major airports around the U.S. Fuel must be dumped in designated unpopulated areas from higher altitudes to allow for fuel atomisation and dispersal before reaching the ground.
The fire department confirmed that the substance dropped on the playground was jet fuel and the students were at recess. 70 firefighters reached the scene and treated the injured. Other students were evacuated after the incident.
Parents were alerted and told to pick up their children close to the school, located 16 miles east of the LAX airport. For the emergency response, two streets were closed.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field