Airliner blows up moments before passengers board

A commercial airliner has spectacularly burst into flames at Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan, moments before passengers were about to board.

Maintenance on a SCAT Airlines Boeing 737-300 was being carried out when it’s believed an oxygen tank caused an explosion which sent flames nearly five metres in the air.

Passengers had just disembarked the aircraft after flying from Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital city, and the plane caught fire while boarding passengers watched from the terminal the Daily Mail has reported.

Firefighters fought the blaze with water cannons, but the aircraft has been deemed unrepairable.

The airline has a disturbing safety record, with SCAT given just one out of seven stars in a survey by AirlineRatings.com. This ranks SCAT amongst the most dangerous carriers in the world.

All 21 people on board a SCAT Airlines flight from Kokshetau to Almaty were killed in January 2013 when the aircraft crashed in poor weather near Kyzyltu.