Plane Evacuated at Dulles

A commercial airliner carrying Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was evacuated at Dulles International Airport Wednesday afternoon.

The pilot of United Flight 586, worried that there was an engine problem, aborted takeoff and stopped on the taxiway about 12:45 p.m. He decided to deploy emergency chutes to get the passengers off the plane.

Three passengers on the San Francisco-bound Boeing 757 suffered minor injuries in the evacuation, officials reported. One was taken to a hospital, while two refused treatment, News4's Pat Collins reported.

A mobile lounge carried the 179 passengers back to the terminal. They are expecting to be placed on other flights, Collins reported.

The plane was towed off the taxiway.

Susannah Fox, a passenger aboard the plane, tweeted, "Just evacuated United flight 586 on tarmac at IAD. All OK and I kinda liked the slide."

There was word earlier of smoke in the cabin, but crews responding to the aircraft did not detect any fire.

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A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court said that Justice Ginsburg, 78, was not injured in the incident. The oldest justice of the high court, Ginsburg had surgery and chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2009 and was hospitalized on two other occasions but has maintained an active travel schedule, including two cross-country trips this summer, the Associated Press reported.

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