DENVER — A fire on an American Airlines plane after it diverted mid-flight and landed at Denver International Airport sent passengers fleeing onto a wing in a fraught evacuation amid billowing clouds of smoke. Airport officials said 12 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

The country has seen a recent spate of aviation disasters and close calls stoking fears about air travel, though flying remains a safe way to travel. Recent on-the-ground accidents included a plane that crashed and flipped over upon landing in Toronto and a Japan Airlines plane that clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport.

Flight 1006 was headed from the Colorado Springs to Dallas Fort Worth on Thursday but diverted to Denver after the crew reported engine vibrations. It landed safely around 5:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. An engine on the Boeing 737-800 caught fire as it taxied to the gate, the FAA added.

Passengers described people exiting the plane onto its left wing, as an engine beneath the right wing burned and black smoke surrounded the aircraft. They lined up and got to the ground using slides and ladders brought over by ground crews, according to the FAA, video footage and passenger interviews.

All 172 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated, authorities said. American Airlines referred questions about the 12 people taken to hospitals to local officials.

The damaged plane was seen parked behind a hangar at the airport Friday.

Passengers’ accounts of what happened

Passenger Hani Levi said she felt a “very strong vibration” after the plane took off, followed later by an announcement that there would an emergency landing emergency landing in Denver because of an apparent engine problem.

As the plane taxied to the gate, the former military airplane mechanic from Las Vegas who was sitting in a window seat, saw smoke coming from the wing and then fire. A passenger said to evacuate, but Levi said some people were panicking and a mother screamed that she needed to get off with her two children, one of whom tried to run toward the front of the plane, she said.

Black smoke filled the cabin as people crowded the exit, but Levi had to remain seated because a handicapped woman was between her and the aisle. As they waited for a wheelchair, Levi watched black smoke and flames spitting from the wing just feet from her seat. People could be heard jostling to get off the plane in videos Levi took, with one person saying “orderly, orderly” and another saying “go go.”

“I chose to stay calm,” said Levi, who said she tried not to breathe deeply to avoid inhaling the smoke.

Passenger Daniel Friedman said he started thinking about writing a eulogy as the chaotic evacuation unfolded. He described people pushing and shoving to get off. “Really I just wanted to make sure we got here safe and didn’t know if it was going to happen or not,” Friedman told WRAL-TV, “I don’t wish that upon anybody.”

Twelve people were treated at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora Thursday night and released, the hospital said.

A replacement plane and crew took passengers to Dallas-Fort Worth, the airline said.