DENVER — A passenger aboard the American Airlines flight that caught fire Thursday night at Denver International Airport said the flight was fine until they got to the gate, and then the cabin became chaotic.

Jon Johnson was on Flight AA1006 from Colorado Springs to Dallas-Fort Worth. The plane left the Colorado Springs airport at 4:37 p.m. before being diverted to Denver, according to FlightAware. 

There were 172 passengers and six crew members aboard the Boeing 737-800, according American Airlines. Twelve passengers had minor injuries and were taken to a hospital.

Johnson said he was headed to Saudi Arabia, where he’s done oil field work for the past 13 years. He said this is the first time he’s experienced a flight like the one on Thursday.

After takeoff from Colorado Springs, the passengers were told the flight was diverting to Denver due to an issue with the right engine, he said.

“Everything was fine until we got to the gate, and they shut everything down and that engine finally caught on fire from the heat,” he said.

That’s when the chaos started.

Johnson said he was seated one row behind the emergency exit on the left side, so he couldn’t see the right-side engine. Then people started yelling “fire.”

“People towards the rear, they just started kind of getting frantic because they saw the fire, so everybody started running up the aisles and then piling out on the wing,” he said. “And then there was no place to go on the wing because there was no ramp to get off it … so more and more people kept exiting that side onto the wing.”

He said that one woman jumped down immediately, and other people jumped down onto a truck about 5 feet below the wing.

Johnson waited on the wing until there was a safer way to get down.

Johnson took this video while he stood on the wing of the plane:

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.