An empty Airbus SE A340-300 long-haul aircraft owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG was damaged on Monday morning after a tow truck maneuvering the plane around Frankfurt airport caught fire.
About 10 people were taken to the hospital after for smoke inhalation, a spokeswoman for the carrier’s Lufthansa Technik maintenance unit said. The division operates plane-towing vehicles under the Leos brand in Frankfurt.
Pictures on social media Monday showed the tug in flames under the jetliner’s cockpit, and the area beneath the nose cone charred and covered with soot. The aircraft, registered as D-AIFA, is named after the German city of Dorsten. The plane was delivered in 2000, making it more likely to be scrapped than repaired.