A British holidaymaker has told of the moment he thought his flight from Las Vegas to London was about to explode.
Alex Crimmens was set to jet back to the UK after holidaying in California with pals when the Boeing 777 blaze broke out.
The 29-year-old, from Newcastle, told the Mirror: "Everything was fine before takeoff, other than we just seemed to be on the runway for longer than usual.
"Eventually we got going and I was sat on the left of the plane by a window, just by the wing.
"Then I just heard a massive bang. People were understandably nervous, and then all of sudden I could hardly see out of my window because of all this smoke.
"We were travelling at the speed you'd expect a plane to be taking off at, so it was alarming.
"Then you could begin to see the flames coming through - you could feel the heat so I moved further into the middle of the plane.
"That is when all the staff on board realised what was happening. They told everyone to keep calm and the pilot then informed us we were going to have to evacuate.
"Obviously people were worried, and in everyone's mind there's the fear that we've got a plane with smoke and flames and it's full of fuel - we thought it could explode."
All 159 passengers and 13 crew members aboard British Airways Flight 2276 were able to get off the plane, McCarran International Airport spokesman Chris Jones said.
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