Major fire breaks out on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 777 freighter

An Ethiopian Cargo aircraft, similar to the one involved in the incident today. Photo by Andrew Pries | AeroNewsX

An Ethiopian Airlines freighter aircraft (Boeing 777-F60) has today, 22 July 2020, caught fire while loading cargo on the tarmac at Shanghai Pudong Airport. The aircraft, registered ET-ARH, had arrived from Brussels just before midday on 21 July and according to a statement by the airline, was on a regular scheduled cargo service from Shanghai to Sao Paulo-Santiago via Addis Ababa.

The aircraft involved in the incident earlier today. Image by @FATIIIAviation on Twitter

Images and videos have circulated on social media showing the great extent of the fire, most likely resulting in a hull loss.

Ethiopian Airlines further added that all ground staff and flying crew were safe, and that it had collaborated with all concerned authorities and contained the fire.

According to Airfleets.net, the aircraft involved was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines on 16th October 2014, is only 5.8 years old, and is part of a fleet of 10 aircraft of the same type owned by the airline.