No injuries in TranAsia Airways evacuation slide mishap

No one was injured when an emergency evacuation slide on a TransAsia Airways Airbus A320 passenger plane parked at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport suddenly popped open Friday.

The accident took place before the 77 passengers boarded the plane destined for Xuzhou in Jiangsu province and did not result in any injuries to ground personnel.

The passenger plane was scheduled to depart for China at 8:50 a.m., but the evacuation slide suddenly popped open at around 8 a.m. as ground staff were getting the plane ready for its flight.

The opening of the slide made a big noise that took ground staff by surprise.

Because of the mishap, the plane did not take off until 9:54 a.m., and the carrier apologized for the delay.

The cause of the incident is being investigated, with some speculating that it was caused by mechanical failure or set off inadvertently by ground personnel.

Those familiar with plane operations said that when an aircraft is parked on the ground, there is a safety latch system intended to prevent the inadvertent opening of the evacuation slide when the cabin door is opened.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel