A

t least nine passengers were injured when a Batavia Air plane that departed from Denpasar's Ngurah Rai International Airport to Surabaya on Thursday morning failed to properly take off following an engine failure.

The left engine of the 737-400 aircraft suddenly produced smoke after it took off. The smoke caused panic on board, where three of the passengers opened the craft's emergency exit door and jumped to the ground from a height of 2 meters.

Heru Legowo, general manager of the PT Angkasa Pura I airport management company, explained that the accident occurred when the aircraft started the engine using its engine auxiliary power unit (APU).

The pilot and copilot tried to restart the engine with the Ground Power Unit and Gas Turbine Compressor (GTC), "but, one of the passengers shouted loudly when they saw smoke emerging from the plane's engine," Legowo said.

Batavia Air were carrying 148 passengers and six cabin crew on the flight.

"Actually, it was not a fire. The smoke came out as fuel residue from the previous flight," Legowo said.

Nur Wahyudi, head of Batavia Air's Bali office, said there was nothing wrong with the plane's engine.

Asril Azis, a passenger seated at 22A, said he saw flames on the left wing. "I saw it clearly when suddenly a passenger cried out loud ... it's a fire ... it's a fire," Azis said in shock.

The three passengers that jumped from the aircraft were badly wounded and are currently being treated at Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar. Six other passengers were treated at Graha Asih Hospital, 1 kilometer from the airport.

"They *the six passengers* received medical treatment at Graha Asih.

Batavia Air's staff has already taken care of them," said Dr. Dwi Cahyawan.