The fire spread quickly after starting near the end of the plane’s cabin. But the captain, despite being informed of the escalating danger, did not announce an evacuation order on the intercom.

What followed was a chaotic scene of nearly 170 passengers shouting and pushing one another in panic, desperate to get off the plane and save their lives.

It was Tuesday night, at the airport in Busan, South Korea, with millions celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday. Some were headed to Hong Kong, on Air Busan Flight ABL391, which was running late. It was still on the ground minutes after its scheduled takeoff of 10:15 p.m., when passengers spotted a flame in the overhead bins in the plane’s rear left.

The incident happened barely a month after the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, and that tragedy, which involved another budget airline, probably would have been fresh on the minds of people onboard.

“Flames were coming out of the gaps between the overhead bin doors,” Shin Min-su, who was on the flight, told reporters later. “People were screaming trying to get out, but there was a line so they were stuck.”

Mr. Shin said he got up to try to put out the fire. But when he attempted to open the overhead bins, a flight attendant told him not to.