Accident Occurred During Engine Run-up

Maintenance crews performing a test run-up on an American Airlines Boeing 767-200 Friday at Los Angeles International Airport were startled when the airliner's left engine caught fire, sending debris across several taxiways and forcing the closure of Runway 25R for about two hours.

Hazmat crews were dispatched to contain the nearly 10,000 gallons of Jet-A that leaked from the jet following the blast at 12:30 pm PDT Friday, and to keep it from running off into storm drains.

Firefighters also sprayed foam the jet and the ramp area to prevent the fire from spreading.

The fire was contained within minutes, and amazingly no one was hurt in the blast, which occurred inside the American maintenance hangar. A spokeswoman for LAX told the Associated Press the runway closure did not delay any flights taking off from the airport.

The damage from the blast appears to be extensive -- with a hole running along the underbelly of the fuselage, and even through the right engine tailcone, apparently caused by shrapnel from the left engine.

The NTSB will investigate the cause of the blast. As for the 767, it has likely made its last flight.

(ANN thanks the Los Angeles Fire Department for their pictures of the blast's aftermath.)

FMI: www.aa.com, www.ntsb.gov