Passenger Plane Catches Fire at South Korean Airport. All 176 People on Board Evacuated

FILE PHOTO: A child wearing a face mask to prevent from contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks at Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran
FILE PHOTO: A child wearing a face mask to prevent from contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks at Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran
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Passenger Plane Catches Fire at South Korean Airport. All 176 People on Board Evacuated

FILE PHOTO: A child wearing a face mask to prevent from contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks at Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran
FILE PHOTO: A child wearing a face mask to prevent from contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks at Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran

The tail of a passenger plane with 176 people on board caught fire before takeoff at an airport in South Korea Tuesday night, news reports said. All passengers and crew were safely evacuated.

The Air Busan plane at Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern city of Busan was bound for Hong Kong, Yonhap news agency reported. The 169 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated using an inflatable slide, the report said, adding that three people were injured but their condition wasn’t serious, The AP news reported.

Calls to fire authorities in Busan were unanswered.

In December, a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.

The Boeing 737-800 skidded off the airport's runaway on Dec. 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames. The flight was returning from Bangkok and all of the victims were South Koreans except for two Thai nationals.



Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Francis, who began his fifth day in hospital on Tuesday for what doctors have described as a "complex" respiratory infection, will not take part in this weekend's Holy Year events, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday.

A planned public papal audience set for Saturday had been cancelled "due to the health condition of the Holy Father", the Vatican said in a brief statement.

A papal mass scheduled for Sunday will still take place, but will be led instead by a senior Vatican official, it added.

The Vatican said on Monday that doctors had changed the pope's drug therapy for the second time during his hospital stay to tackle a "complex clinical situation". They described it as a "polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract".

Doctors say polymicrobial diseases can be caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed, and in recent times has been prone to lung infections.