SEOUL, South Korea — A fire erupted on a passenger aircraft shortly before it was scheduled for takeoff at a South Korean airport late Tuesday evening, with officials confirming that all 176 individuals aboard were successfully evacuated.

The incident involved an Airbus aircraft from Air Busan, which was in the process of preparing for a flight to Hong Kong when flames ignited at the rear section at Gimhae International Airport located in the southeastern part of the country, according to a statement from the Transport Ministry.

In total, there were 169 passengers, alongside six crew members and one engineer, all of whom utilized an escape slide to exit the aircraft safely. The National Fire Agency reported that three individuals sustained minor injuries during the evacuation. The agency also indicated that firefighters and fire trucks were deployed to the scene, successfully extinguishing the fire by 11:31 p.m., approximately one hour after it first broke out.

At this time, the origin of the fire remains unclear. The Transport Ministry confirmed that the aircraft was an A321 model.

This event follows a tragic incident just a month prior, when a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, resulting in the deaths of all but two of the 181 people onboard, marking it as one of the most catastrophic events in the country’s aviation history.

The Boeing 737-800 encountered significant trouble on December 29 when it skidded off the runway due to a failure of its landing gear to deploy correctly, colliding with a concrete structure and igniting in flames. The flight was returning from Bangkok, and with the exception of two Thai nationals, all fatalities involved South Korean citizens.

A recent report on the crash indicated that authorities have detected evidence of bird strikes affecting the aircraft’s engines; however, officials have yet to ascertain the definitive cause of the accident.