Plane catches fire after crash-landing at Miami Airport

More than 120 passengers and crew used evacuation slides to leave the blazing aircraft

A plane caught fire after crash-landing at Miami International airport, skidding across the runway when its landing gear collapsed, witnesses said.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 passenger jet with Red Air, a small Caribbean airline that began operations last year, had flown from the Dominican Republic.

Video of Tuesday's incident appeared to show the plane burst into flames when it landed, with one wing consumed by fire, leaving the fuselage largely untouched.

Firefighters rushed to put out the blaze and passengers escaped the burning aircraft using inflatable evacuation slides, before running to safety.

Three people among the 126 passengers and crew on board suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, the authorities said.

The US National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter that it was sending a team of investigators to the scene after a “gear collapse and runway excursion”.

The plane involved in the accident was almost 32 years old, Planespotters.net said. Until 2015 it was operated by American Airlines Group, Planespotters data shows.