Hawaiian Airlines Flight 47 made an emergency landing at 11:36 a.m., 20 minutes after the captain declared an in-flight emergency, Hawaii News Now reported. There were 184 passengers and seven crew members aboard the aircraft, according to the Star-Advertiser of Honolulu.
Five adults and two children were taken to an area hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation symptoms, airline officials said.
In a statement Thursday night, Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said a seal failed in the plane's left engine, "causing oil to leak onto hot parts" of the plane's engine and air-conditioning pressurization system. The faulty seal caused smoke to billow into the plane's cabin and cargo hold, officials said.
The performance of the engine was not affected, Da Silva said.
Lucky Cara, a passenger on the plane, told Hawaii News Now the evacuation of the plane was "terrifying, but organized."
“I was scared. It just kept getting worse and worse, and there were a few people that were crying, but they settled down,” Cara said.
"The smoke was really getting thick," passenger Linda Puu told Hawaii News Now
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