WATCH: (Scroll Down For Video) British Airways and the jet engine manufacturer are now facing a $100 million lawsuit from passengers who were on board an aircraft that caught fire as it was about to take off in Las Vegas.
The pilot on board the Boeing 777-200 was forced to abandon his takeoff when one of his engines started to disintegrate before bursting into flames on September 8.
The 157 passengers on board had to be evacuated on emergency slides after the jet came to a halt amid fears the flames were set to engulf the cabin.
Some 65 of the 157 passengers on board the flight have joined a legal action lodged in Chicago for pain, suffering and emotional stress. A further 40 are suing in the UK.
The case is based on whether the engines were ‘defective and unreasonably dangerous’.
Only 14 of the passengers required hospital treatment for minor injures when the engine onboard flight BA 2276 suffered a catastrophic failure at McCarren International on September 8, 2015.
Major components of the engine disintegrated as the jet powered down the runway with broken segments shredding the outer cowling damaging the wing.
However, James Healy-Pratt of Stewarts Law, who is taking the case, told the Telegraph: ‘Our clients are not critical of BA and feel that the pilots and cabin crew performed heroically in guiding the aircraft to an emergency stop, and then evacuating all occupants.
An initial report into the accident found that the high pressure compressor system, deep within the engine, was defective. This is being used as evidence by lawyers representing the passengers.
Read More: Passengers on BA flight which burst into flames in Las Vegas sue plane and engine manufacturers
