VIDEO: More than 40 people injured after airplane catches fire in China

A Tibet Airlines airplane caught fire on Thursday after skidding off the runway at an airport in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, injuring dozens of people.

The aircraft, which was carrying 113 passengers and nine crew members, went off the runway while performing maneuvers to depart for the Tibetan city of Nyingchi.

More than 40 people have minor injuries and were taken to medical facilities for treatment, the Chongqing airport said on its official Weibo account, according to El Periódico.

The crew noticed "abnormalities" during takeoff and decided to abort the flight, which caused the plane to run off the runway and catch fire. 

Images shared on social media show the moment when the Airbus A319-115 aircraft spews dense smoke after the raging fire while passengers leave the aircraft.

Imágenes compartidas en redes sociales muestran el momento cuando el avión Airbus A319-115 expulsa un denso humo tras el voraz incendio, mientras que los pasajeros abandonan la aeronave.

🇨🇳| Un avión se incendia en la pista del aeropuerto de Jiangbei en Chongqing, China, no se reportan victimas. pic.twitter.com/rj1SU3NttU

— Alerta News 🚨 (@Alerta_News_) May 12, 2022

Airport operations have returned to normal. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

According to the website Airfleets.net, which specializes in air fleets, the first flight of the Airbus A319-115 was recorded at the end of 2012.

This new incident comes after a China Eastern flight between Kunming and Canton crashed in late March in the mountainous county of Teng, with 132 people on board (123 passengers and nine crew).

Following the fatal accident, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the "immediate activation of emergency mechanisms" for rescue work and subsequent investigation to determine the cause of the incident. More than 600 operatives were activated, but there were no survivors.