San Jose bound flight forced to evacuate at Orange County Airport has finally arrived at its destination

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KGO) -- Passengers on a Southwest flight forced to evacuate at a gate in Orange County due to smoke in the aircraft have finally landed in San Jose.

Flight 2123 landed in San Jose at 12:04 A.M. according to Southwest Airlines. It was originally scheduled to arrive at 8:10 P.M.

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The Southwest 737 was bound for San Jose from John Wayne Airport but had not left the gate area when the smoke was observed. The airline said flight 2123 was pushing back from the gate when the ground crew observed a possible fire near the rear exterior of the aircraft. The fire was in the aircraft's auxiliary power unit.

The emergency slides were deployed and the plane's 139 passengers and five crew members were all evacuated safely and the fire was extinguished. The incident was first reported around 7:30 p.m. 5 minor injuries were reported, but none requiring a hospital transport.

Southwest Airlines has released this statement: Upon push back of the aircraft, the Captain in command of Flight #2123 with scheduled service from Orange County to San Jose received an indication by ground personnel of a possible fire near the rear exterior of aircraft. Standard protocol was initiated and evacuation slides were deployed. Local Fire and Rescue met the aircraft and the 139 passengers and five Crew Members departed the aircraft via the slides. Paramedics are onsite but no serious injuries have been reported. Local Orange County Employees are working diligently to accommodate the passengers on another aircraft to get them to their final destination this evening. As always, the Safety of our Customers and Employees is our number one priority and we regret any inconvenience the event has caused.