South Korean officials are launching an investigation into the cause of the fire that engulfed an Air Busan passenger plane while awaiting takeoff at Busan's Gimhae International Airport, with some eyewitness accounts leading to speculation that a portable power bank may have caused the blaze.

It is a month since the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil when a Jeju Air plane coming from Bangkok crashed on Muan Airport's runway as it made an emergency belly landing, killing all but two of the 181 people and crew members on board.

An Airbus plane has caught fire at an airport of South Korea's city of Busan, forcing the evacuation of all 176 people on board, fire authorities say. They say three people were injured as they were escaping the Air Busan aircraft on inflatable slides in the south-eastern airport on Tuesday evening.