The flight attendants aboard a B767-300 initiated an evacuation at the gate when the underground fue...

Narrative:

There was an intense fuel smell in the cabin. After a few minutes the fueler; smelling of fuel; entered the plane and told the purser to tell everybody to get out of the plane. The purser initiated an evacuation and I repeated the announcement in spanish: 'everybody leave the plane immediately' the evacuation took about ten minutes. I helped to evacuate the last passenger who was in a wheelchair. The passengers and flight attendants stayed in the gate area but the smell of fuel was still intense. We all could clearly see the fuel gushing out from the fueling underground tank. Paramedics were called. They advised us to seek fresh air. A company supervisor led us to the in flight office. Later we returned to pick up our bags. At that time we stayed on board for about 30 minutes as passengers came to get their own bags. Needless to say; we flight attendants were lightheaded. Our faces were reddish and some of us were having minor palpitations. Once; when I went to the bathroom in in flight operations; the purser was vomiting. I myself was feeling nauseous and lightheaded. We all went to the clinic accompanied by a company supervisor.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Flight Attendants aboard a B767-300 initiated an evacuation at the gate when the underground fueling receptacle at the gate hemorrhaged. An alert fueler raced to the cabin to alert those aboard.

Narrative: There was an intense fuel smell in the cabin. After a few minutes the fueler; smelling of fuel; entered the plane and told the purser to tell everybody to get out of the plane. The purser initiated an evacuation and I repeated the announcement in Spanish: 'everybody leave the plane immediately' The evacuation took about ten minutes. I helped to evacuate the last passenger who was in a wheelchair. The passengers and flight attendants stayed in the gate area but the smell of fuel was still intense. We all could clearly see the fuel gushing out from the fueling underground tank. Paramedics were called. They advised us to seek fresh air. A company supervisor led us to the in flight office. Later we returned to pick up our bags. At that time we stayed on board for about 30 minutes as passengers came to get their own bags. Needless to say; we Flight Attendants were lightheaded. Our faces were reddish and some of us were having minor palpitations. Once; when I went to the bathroom in in flight operations; the purser was vomiting. I myself was feeling nauseous and lightheaded. We all went to the clinic accompanied by a company supervisor.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	978442
Time
Date	201111
Place
Locale Reference	IAH.Airport
State Reference	TX
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

The flight attendants aboard a B767-300 initiated an evacuation at the gate when the underground fueling receptacle at the gate hemorrhaged. An alert fueler raced to the cabin to alert those aboard.