United Airlines stated on Friday that one of their flights from Tokyo, Japan to Cebu, Philippines had to make an emergency landing in Osaka, Japan due to concerns over a possible fire in the cargo hold, resulting in two minor injuries.
The United Airlines Flight 32, scheduled to fly to Cebu, was a Boeing 737-800 aircraft carrying 135 passengers and 7 crew members. It departed from Narita Airport near Tokyo but was forced to divert to Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
All passengers and crew members on board used emergency slides to evacuate the aircraft, and the two injured individuals were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The airline mentioned that initial maintenance checks did not show any signs of fire on the aircraft.
According to reports from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, the incident occurred around 7 p.m. local time on Friday (10 a.m. GMT) as the flight was flying over the Pacific Ocean when the cargo hold fire alarm went off, prompting the emergency landing at Kansai International Airport.
Data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24 indicated that United Airlines Flight 32 took off from Tokyo at around 5:40 p.m. local time. However, approximately 50 minutes into its flight towards the Philippines, the aircraft returned to Japan.