At least 50 passengers have been rescued following a fire outbreak that gutted the tyres of an aircraft operated by Dana Airlines Limited in Port Harcourt.

Dana Air spokesman, Kingsley Ezenwa, stated this in a statement released this Tuesday.

According to Ezenwa, the incident occurred on Monday evening at the Port Harcourt airport, however no life was lost and no passenger was injured as first responders including operatives of the fire service at the airport moved in to control the situation.

Ezenwa explained that the aircraft was set to take off when the pilot in command noticed an anomaly which he queried with the Air Traffic Control before embarking on a ramp return in line with their strict safety operating procedures

However, the impact on the brakes as a result of the aborted take-off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing to re-park.