Passengers on a Sepehran Airlines Boeing 737 were left screaming in fear after sections of the aircraft’s ceiling suddenly broke apart and fell into the cabin during an emergency landing in Iran.
Footage from inside the plane shows the cabin shaking violently before large pieces of the interior lining began coming loose and crashing down onto passengers.
Women can be heard screaming in the video, while one man appears to repeatedly call out to Allah as passengers cling to their seats and attempt to hold back the falling panels.
At one point, the person filming appears to be struck by falling debris, causing the camera to tilt towards the floor, where a large piece of the aircraft’s interior casing can be seen.
The incident reportedly occurred at around 5.40pm on Tuesday as the Boeing 737 was travelling towards the western city of Kermanshah.
According to local reports, the aircraft suffered a tyre burst shortly after take-off, prompting the pilot to declare an emergency and make an unscheduled landing.
The aircraft subsequently experienced what authorities described as a “mechanical failure”, although the precise nature of the problem has not been disclosed.
Despite the chaotic scenes inside the cabin, no injuries were reported. All passengers and crew members were safely evacuated.
Mashhad Airport temporarily closed the runway for inspection following the incident.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization has launched an investigation to determine what caused the aircraft to suffer the mechanical problems.
The incident comes just weeks after another Sepehran Airlines Boeing 737-500 was involved in an accident at Mashhad.
That aircraft, which was carrying 127 passengers, reportedly veered off the runway before its nose landing gear collapsed. No injuries were reported in that incident.
Sepehran Airlines’ fleet has an average age of more than three decades, according to fleet data, with its oldest aircraft still in operation reportedly 37 years old.
