“I had sent farewell messages thinking it was over.” Two days later, the shock is still alive for this German tourist and her daughter questioned by Bild. The two travelers were present on the Boeing 757 of the German company Condor who brought them back to Düsseldorf (Germany) on Saturday evening, after a vacation spent on the Greek island of Corfu.
After forty minutes of flight, a fire declares itself on the right wing of the plane: the engine is on fire. Inside the cabin, a breakdown of electricity and strong detonations occur. “We suddenly heard a great noise, then flames sprang from the engine,” said another traveler to Bild, “it was very scary”. “We were already in flight and we heard a very loud rattling noise,” also says Leah Steininger, interviewed by WDR.
✈️Boeing 757 flying from Corfu to Düsseldorf caught fire mid-air — passengers were already saying goodbye to their loved ones
Right after takeoff, the Condor airline plane’s right engine burst into flames.
There were 273 people on board. Passengers recall loud bangs, fire, and… pic.twitter.com/ZtoBu6JrPp
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 18, 2025
“It was a horrible experience,” said the first passenger. Faced with the loss of the engine, the driver of the aircraft keeps his calm, tries to appease the 273 passengers on board and manages to make an emergency landing on the Tarmac of Brindisi airport in southeast Italy, without hurting anyone.
A chemical reaction in the engine?
For some travelers in shock, the nightmare continues. The passengers of the Boeing 757 must indeed spend an additional night in Italy, but for lack of space everyone cannot be hosted in the hotels made available by the Condor company.
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“After landing, customers gradually left the plane. Unfortunately, there was not enough hotel capacity available on site, “the German air carrier told Bild. Refueling vouchers and additional blankets were however distributed at the airport, where some passengers had to sleep.
In the aftermath of this emergency landing, a new device was chartered to bring the 273 travelers back to Düsseldorf. Some tourists still in shock, will prefer to rally Germany by bus.
In parallel, an investigation was opened to determine the causes of the fire. A spokesperson for the Condor company interviewed by the German media WDR stressed that the problems that occurred were linked to “a chemical reaction in the engine, which occurs normally in the combustion chamber, but in this case, due to the disruption of the air flow, it was perceptible outside”.
