The 165 passengers and crew of China Airlines flight CI120 made it out just in the nick of time.

The passengers and eight crew members had barely finished sliding down the emergency chutes of the smoking jet on August 20 when it suddenly exploded and flames engulfed the center of the craft.

For the holidaymakers and other travelers, it was a moment of sheer terror - even if there were no serious injuries.

Screams erupted from the tarmac as passengers raced to get away from the burning plane, and emergency personnel moved forward to begin putting out the flames.

A Taiwanese woman said she was stricken with fear the moment she slid down the chute. "I was running and crying, running and crying."

A passenger who gave only his surname, Chen, said he started running the moment he slid off the plane. "I ran so hard, my sock tore."

Airline spokesman Johnson Sun said the 737 skidded after landing, igniting a fire that prompted the evacuation.

Even after landing, passengers reported that nothing was amiss.

But as the aircraft came to a halt, things started to go terribly wrong.

The unidentified woman said first the left engine started to smoke, then the right engine, and then "there were these big bangs."

She added: "When the smoke started people were just pushing and shoving each other. It was total chaos."

A guide for Taipei's Southeast Tours, who identified himself as Tsang, said that when the smoke started to billow outside the jet, the cabin crew was already standing by the doors, ready to bid farewell.

"The passengers saw the smoke first and they began to yell and demand the doors be opened," he said. "About 30 seconds after I slid down the chute and began to run toward the terminal I heard two big explosions. I had no idea it would be this serious."

In Taiwan, one woman passenger who returned home soon after the escape, said: "I dare not fly China Airlines any more."