A SpiceJet plane caught fire while preparing for take-off at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital yesterday morning.

The take-off was aborted and 74 passengers, four pilots and crew members onboard were evacuated from the Kolkata-bound plane, after firefighters promptly doused the fire in its nose wheel, Wahidur Rahman, station air traffic officer at HSIA told The Daily Star.

Flight operations at the airport were suspended for about an hour following the incident, officials said.

The plane of the India-based airliner wason a taxiway,approaching the runway around 10:40am when the pilot noticed the fire, Wahidur added.

A broken bearing seemed to have causedthe fire, he said.

The aircraft was brought back to the tarmac for repairing.