A 737 bound for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has had to divert to New York due to a fire in the cargo hold.

The aircraft, operated by Air Transat, had to be evacuated on the runway with passengers escaping on the emergency slides. This caused all runways to be shut down as firefighters battled the blaze.

An Air Transat Boeing 737. Source: Wikimedia

What are the details?

At 8:20 am local time, an Air Transat 737 aircraft was flying near New York Newark airport on its way to Florida when the pilots received a cargo fire warning.

Not taking any chances, they called an emergency Mayday call and requested to land at the airport immediately. They were able to successfully stop, activate their evacuation slides and escape from the plane.

Emergency at Newark Airport.

Nothing arriving or going pic.twitter.com/YZBsg7QplN

— R.J.C (@RJCRampAgent) March 9, 2019

The airport authority shut down all the runways, as smoke poured out of the cargo deck of the plane. The fire was successfully handled by the ground team, and all 189 passengers and crew were unharmed (two minor injuries were reported, but unrelated to the fire).

You can hear a recording of the air traffic control tower during the incident here:

"The plane landed safely," Statement from the New York Port Authority. "Passengers were evacuated on the runway via the chutes and bused to the terminal, where they will be housed until the airline can determine what it wants to do with them"

It is understood that Air Transat has sent a replacement plane to pick up the passengers to take them to their final destination. The plane involved in this incident is believed to be still at the airport awaiting FAA inspections.

"Our 189 passengers' safety is our top priority and they were evacuated promptly upon landing," said Air Transat in a statement.

Considering another disaster happened in the world today with a 737, it is a miracle that this event has had the opposite result.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.