Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority says it has contained a fire on a Ukrainian plane carrying 189 passengers at Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport on Saturday evening. 

 

The blaze broke out around a tire of a Ukrainian SkyUp plane due to a leakage of hydraulic oil on the tires, a civil aviation source said. 

 

An EgyptAir Ground Services team, in cooperation with the civil defence forces, managed to put out the blaze. 

 

Passengers were immediately evacuated when the fire broke out, the source added.

 

The commercial jet's pilot praised EgyptAir's team and fire fighters for their professionalism in dealing with the fire promptly and evacuating the passengers without losses.

 

In April 2018, Egypt received the first commercial flight by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) from Kiev after a two-year flight suspension that was imposed following the crash of a Russian airliner over Sinai in October 2015.

 

Charter flights from Ukraine to Egyptian tourist cities were not suspended following the 2015 crash.

 

In 2017, nearly 1 million Ukrainians visited Egypt; an 85 percent increase from 2016.