An American Airlines passenger is speaking out after a harrowing evacuation experience at Denver International Airport this week.
A Boeing 737-800 aircraft originally departed Colorado Springs Airport at 4:37 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, per FlightAware, and was headed to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at the time of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.
However, flight AA1006 was diverted “after the crew reported engine vibrations.”
“After landing and while taxiing to the gate an engine caught fire and passengers evacuated the aircraft using the slides,” the FAA continued. Photos also showed many evacuating on the plane’s wings.
Ingrid Hibbit spoke with CBS News Texas at baggage claim after she and her family arrived at their destination.
The wife and mother told the news station that her family’s seats weren’t together, which made the emergency situation all the more frightening.
“It was nerve-racking. It was terrifying,” Hibbit said. “It was horrific to get off that plane and not know if they were okay because we didn’t really know what was going on with the plane.”
“Seeing the flames from the window and the window kind of melting and all the smoke and people screaming and everyone just trying to get off the plane” will be an experience she never forgets.
Hibbit said she “was hoping everything was okay, but we really didn’t know for sure, for who knows how long.”
She added that “it seemed like a long time” before things were under control enough for her to find her loved ones.
“We were obviously in a state of panic, but I don’t really know how long it was,” she told the news station.
Hibbit said she was eventually able to communicate with her family via cell phone before they reunited.
She noted that passengers who evacuated onto the plane’s wings were not able to take slides down, instead using a scaffold.
“We had to kind of climb down. I was shaking,” Hibbit said. “It was not stable.”
Nevertheless, she said she’s “grateful to be alive.”
“If this would’ve happened in the air, I don’t think we would be telling this story at all,” Hibbit said, noting that she did not see fire trucks immediately and was still unsure of exactly what happened.
According to CBS News Texas, officials at Denver International Airport said 12 passengers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
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In a statement to PEOPLE, American Airlines said, “The 172 customers and six crew members deplaned and are being relocated to the terminal. We thank our crew members, DEN team and first responders for their quick and decisive action with the safety of everyone on board and on the ground as the priority.”
The FAA will investigate the incident.
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