JetBlue Flight to Orlando Made Emergency Landing in the Bahamas After Smoke Alert, Airline Says
A JetBlue flight to Orlando made an emergency landing Wednesday morning in the Bahamas following a system alert, airline officials said in a statement.
The flight, which came from the Dominican Republic, was diverted to Nassau after the crew reported possible smoke in a cargo hold.
The airline said passengers were getting off the plane normally until the captain had the remaining passengers and crewmembers evacuate through emergency slides.
A video posted to Twitter around noon showed passengers exiting the plane as flight attendants guided them to the slides. Carlos Morillo, the passenger who took the video, said the situation escalated as the atmosphere on board quickly went from calm to frantic. No injuries were reported
“The flight attendants were very professional, but you could tell they were nervous,” said Morillo, who took a flight to Orlando later in the afternoon.
JetBlue said they don’t know what caused the system alert but the captain decided to evacuate the plane after speaking with airport fire officials.
“Initial inspections of the aircraft found no signs of any issues,” the airline said in an email. “The aircraft will be further inspected and customers are continuing on to Orlando aboard a new aircraft.”
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