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Passengers recall terrifying landing as Frontier plane catches fire

The flight from San Diego to Las Vegas caught fire as it landed. No injuries were reported.
A Frontier plane in Las Vegas
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Passengers were left feeling uneasy after a Frontier Airlines plane caught on fire at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Saturday.

"I noticed something kind of weird, but I don't really know what happened," said passenger Jose Mena.

”We are a little shaken up from the flight. The last thing we expected was to land in Vegas and be surrounded by fire vehicles, you know? When we touched down, it was a very hard landing followed by shaking of the plane," said Kevin Joseif.

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Mena said passengers were confused, claiming they were left in the dark about the situation.

"Honestly, I thought that we are going to explode because we saw the fire and we didn't know why," Mena said.

"Before we even landed, you can see them [fire crews] on the ground. It was kind of weird that they were on the tarmac with their lights on. I figured something was wrong, I didn’t think it was our plane," Joseif said. "I don’t think the crew themselves really knew what was going on either, so we just stayed put until they told us to exit the plane. I’m actually a firefighter, so the fact that they only put a little bit of water told me something was wrong with the breaks or the wheels."

Inside the plane, Mena said passengers could feel the heat.

"There was a child that was crying at the moment," Mena said. "The temperature, I think it was 100 degrees."

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Frontier said in a statement that pilots detected smoke and declared an emergency at 3:15 p.m. as the plane was in the process of landing. The airline added that 190 passengers and seven crew members were on board and no injuries were reported. Frontier noted that customers on the aircraft will be getting a refund.

Joseif, however, said this experience left his family frightened, and they are not sure if they will get on a plane anytime soon.

"My whole family is shaken up. We are talking about getting a van and driving home because we don’t want to fly again after that," he said.