The Associated Press
An Alaska Airlines MD80 was evacuated on a taxiway after smoke appeared in the cabin shortly after the plane landed in Long Beach, Calif., a company spokeswoman said.
The 140 passengers and five crew members on Flight 338 from Seattle used emergency slides Sunday evening to escape, said Caroline Boren of Alaska Airlines.
“Some smoke developed in the cabin,” Boren said. “The crew felt (the smoke) was at a level that they needed to get people off the plane right away.”
Paramedics treated two passengers and a flight attendant, and one passenger was taken to a hospital for what appeared to be minor injuries, Boren said.
The cause of the smoke remained undetermined pending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
It was the Seattle-based airline’s second problem with smoke in the cabin of an MD-80 in three months. Another MD-80 was evacuated after landing in San Francisco in May. Boren said she didn’t know the cause of the smoke problem in May or whether the same plane was involved.