Dozens Of Adults And Children Injured After Delta Flight Dumps Fuel On California Elementary School Playground

Los Angeles was home to a freak accident on Tuesday morning, due to an engine issue on a plane flying overhead.

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An elementary school in Los Angeles was met with a scary accident, as an LAX-bound plane dumped what was believed to be jet fuel on the school's playground from above.

Standard emergency procedure requires planes making emergency landings under certain circumstances to dump excess fuel before attempting a landing to minimize flammable materials on board in case of a crash.

The Boeing 777 plane took off on Delta flight 89 Tuesday morning, and was en route to Shanghai before turning around and heading back to LAX. With 140 passengers on board, the plane made their emergency landing- but not before dousing an entire elementary school playground in jet fuel along the way.

Over 60 students and teachers at Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy, as well as several surrounding schools received injuries from the almost-fatal mistake. Despite the fact that this particular 20 year old plane makes daily trips to and from Shanghai, it only made it about 8,000 feet before descending on the elementary school.

Videos of the plane jettisoning its fuel quickly made their way to Twitter.

11-year-old sixth grader Josue Burgos spoke to TheLA Times about his experience, and the fear he and other students had during the incident.

"We came out and we were playing, and the airplane was outside and we thought it was rain, but then we knew it was throwing gas on us, and everybody started to run. We went to the auditorium and we knew what happened. We went back to class. We stayed for one hour and then we went home."

LAFD firefighters responded to the call at 11:47am, and soon over 70 emergency service workers were on the scene.

"We have a Boeing triple 7, call sign Delta 89, reporting a compressor stall, 181 souls on board, 12 hours of fuel, ETA less than five minutes," an LAFD firefighter said.

The situation was determined to be a failure of the aircraft's engine. Once the compressor in the engine stalls, it can cause a loss of airflow throughout the plane.

"Shortly after takeoff, Flight 89 from LAX to Shanghai experienced an engine issue requiring the aircraft to return quickly to LAX," Delta said in a statement released following the accident, adding:

"The aircraft landed safely after a release of fuel, which was required as part of normal procedure to reach a safe landing weight. Delta is in touch with Los Angeles World Airports and the L.A. County Fire Department as well as community leaders, and shares concerns regarding reports of minor injuries to adults and children at schools in the area."

Many took to Twitter to give their thoughts.

We're just glad that everyone is safe.