A British Airways aircraft that was scheduled for take off to London, UK, on Tuesday evening was cancelled after its door ripped off during routine towing at the Cape Town International Airport.
British Airways Boeing 777-300ER – Cape Town International Airport International Terminal – 26 January 2022.
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PICS: British Airways flight to London delayed by freak accident
Images of the aircraft’s ripped door surfaced on social media, raising questions about passenger safety and, more importantly, how on earth a freak accident of that nature occurred in the first place.
As reported by News24, British Airways confirmed the incident and explained that the door was ripped off after it was left open in the jet bridge during routine towing.
Whether this was an error committed by a staffer remains unknown. However, the airline did confirm that no crew or passengers were onboard at the time of the incident and thus — fortunately — no injuries were reported.
Here are the images of the doorless Boeing aircraft.
The accident forced British Airways to cancel its Tuesday night flight to London. Britsh Airways confirmed that passengers were moved to a later flight.
“We have apologised to our customers for the slight delay to their departure from Cape Town due to an issue with the original aircraft. Our customers are now safely on their way to London,” the airline noted in a statement.