WATCH | Boeing aircraft catches fire on runway at Denver Airport; 173 passengers evacuated seconds before take off

An American Airlines flight heading to Miami had to stop takeoff at the Denver Airport on Saturday after an issue with its landing gear resulted in smoke and fire on the runway, leading to the evacuation of all 173 passengers on board.

The flight, AA-3023 to Miami, was using a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

While all passengers are reportedly safe, footage of the incident, showing panicking flyers sliding out of the emergency exit amid smoke and fire, has left people on edge, with the the incident coming on the back of several alarming situations with flights, including the Air India crash in Ahmedabad that killed over 240 peple.

One injured, others safe

Although all 173 flyers were immediately evacuated, one person suffered a minor injury.

"Five people were evaluated on scene and not transported. One person was evaluated at a gate and was transported," Denver Airport officials said.

While the incident took place around 2.45 pm local time, it took hours for the situation to be brought under control—it was only at 5.10 pm local time that the Denver Fire Department announced that the fire had been extinguished.

What caused fire?

Commenting on the incident, American Airlines said that the Boeing aircraft "experienced a maintenance issue" with a tire on one of its landing gears.

"All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team," the airline added.

Second incident this year

Notably, this isn't the first such incident at the Denver Airport to have been reported of late.

Earlier this year in March, a Dallas-bound American Airlines plane—a Boeing 737-800—had also caight fire at the airport, resulting in the evacuation of all 172 flyers and six crew members.

In that instance, the engine of the plane had caught fire, and the incident had left 12 passengers injured.