“Dad, I think there’s a fire!” A phrase you definitely don’t want to hear on board an airplane. But that’s exactly what happened to Oliver Jankai and his family during their trip to America. Even before take-off, the Viennese managed to throw a burning backpack out of the plane, saving the lives of 191 people.
“You can’t even imagine what we’ve been through these past few days. All those coincidences!” Oliver Jankai reports in the “Krone” interview. The destination of the trip to America were several Copa América football matches. As a Messi fan and member of FC Barcelona, the final between Argentina and Colombia was a regular. “We played the lottery and that’s how we got tickets,” the 50-year-old said.
“It was just a coincidence that we were in San Francisco. We were just planning day by day.” Eventually, we would take the plane from California to Miami to the football stadium. “When we boarded the plane in San Francisco, I was a little annoyed that we had an Airbus model without in-flight entertainment, like TV. After all, you are flying for several hours. But after a few minutes, we had our own conversation,” son Jan recalls.
“Flashes behind my chair”
The 20-year-old and his brother, who was three years younger, noticed a burning smell. They alerted their father. “I immediately said in no uncertain terms that it couldn’t be the plane, because it had been checked. But then the smell got worse and worse and I saw flames behind my seat.” The Viennese innkeeper jumped up immediately. “But I was already wearing my seat belt. So I quickly unbuckled it. Then I really thought the plane was on fire. I just saw the flames and alerted the stewardess and asked for a fire extinguisher. But she didn’t have one. No fire blanket either.”
Flight attendant was unable to open the emergency door
Instinctively, son Jan opened the emergency exit. “But the stewardess stopped me there too. There was so much smoke in the cabin. We could hardly breathe. My father then threw me the extinguished but smoking backpack and I wanted to throw it out of the plane. We didn’t know what had caused the fire. The flight attendants wanted to prevent this from happening again.” But the Viennese innkeeper quickly got to work: “I just grabbed the piece of luggage and threw it away.”
As a result of this incident, three people were injured, including Oliver Jankai’s youngest son. “He has minor burns. He is fine now. The other people were injured during the evacuation.” The pilot thanked the two Viennese: “Quick thinking saves lives!”
But no one from American Airlines has contacted the rescuers yet. “We are very shocked that the evacuation took four minutes. “The way the flight crew acted is irresponsible,” father and son agree.
The back row was questioned for hours by police and the FBI. Eventually the investigation was concluded: a power bank with a lithium battery was connected to a laptop and caught fire.
Coincidences to the end
And then there was another coincidence: “A paramedic named Austria treated us. All these coincidences were really crazy,” says Oliver Jankai. However, the two are not afraid of flying: “The chance of something like that happening to us again is very small. Moreover, flying is simply the safest way to travel.” But on the flight back to Austria, the landlord checked the plane to see where the nearest fire extinguisher was.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
