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Jetliner evacuated after fire in wheel well

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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- All 118 passengers and crew were evacuated safely Thursday when a fire broke out in the left wheel well of US Airways Flight 431, officials said.

Firefighters using foam quickly extinguished the fire, which was sparked when two tires blew as the Boeing 737 landed at 1:45 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Airport operations supervisor Ike Wetherill said the 113 passengers and five crew aboard used emergency slides to get out of the jetliner, and no one was hurt. (Watch what a passenger said about the hasty escape -- :58)

The flight, which originated in Albany, New York, was arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina.

"The plane did not have a problem until it got on the ground," Wetherill said. "Two-thirds of the way down the runway, it appeared to have a problem. It did blow tires and there was some flash of fire."

The plane stopped safely at the end of the runway which, at 13,000 feet, is the longest of the airport's four runways.


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