United flight grounded after passengers spot fuel leak

NEWARK, N.J - A United Airlines flight bound for Italy has been canceled after fuel gushed from one of its wings as it taxied to the runway at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The spill occurred Tuesday night. Witnesses said the fuel came from the edge of the plane's left wing, but it wasn't clear what caused the leak, where it originated or how much fuel was spilled.

Authorities say Flight 170 was scheduled to depart for Venice at 6:55 p.m. Passengers aboard the plane were put up in a hotel overnight, and the airline was hoping to book them on a new flight Wednesday.

Twitter user RachelEPas said she and her husband were on their way to Venice for their honeymoon when she looked out the window and saw the fuel leak. She said no one was reacting, so her husband ran to the back to inform flight attendants of the problem. The flight attendants, though, yelled to him to sit back down. Once he had, she said, the flight attendant ran to the cockpit.

Shortly after, the engines were shut off.

“We were thanked by the crew, and they told us next time to scream ‘emergency,’ but that’s about it,” Rachel said. She also said the pilots asked passengers to “be nice on social media.”

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The Associated Press and Storyful contributed to this report.