LOS ANGELES — Passengers on the British Airways *** whose engine caught **** just before takeoff in ********* escaped with their lives — and some with their carry-ons, as well.

While flight crews tell people to leave belongings behind in an **********, pilots say they seem increasingly inclined to grab whatever they brought on board. And sometimes even a selfie or two.

“We’re always shaking our head,” said Chris Manno, a veteran pilot with a major US ******* who took to social media Wednesday to slam those pictured on the Vegas tarmac with bulky cabin bags. “It doesn’t matter what you say, people are going to do what they do.”

The engine on the London-bound Boeing 777-200 caught **** Tuesday as the plane was gathering speed. Though the ********** was swift, officials said Wednesday that 27 of the 170 passengers or crew on board required hospital treatment for cuts, bruises or other minor ********, mostly from the ********** slides.

“A ****** slalom” is how pilot Patrick Smith described ******* on an ********* slide in a blog post. Bags also could tear the inflatable slides, block exits on board and cause other ******** in the ***** of an **********.

The chief of the Association of Flight Attendants union, which does not represent the British Airways crew, said she expects federal investigators will find that ******* slowed down the ********** and caused some of the ********.

Manno noted that passengers also evacuated with belongings when a Delta Air Lines *** nearly skidded off the runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in March and an Asiana Airlines *** caught **** after a hard landing in San Francisco in 2013.

“We’re seeing this more and more,” said John Goglia, an aviation safety expert and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Goglia believes that because air safety advances have made accidents far more survivable and ******** often less severe, more people can — and do — bring bags as they ********.

Passenger Karen Bravo, 60, of *********, said she happened to have her purse and some other passengers further back in coach had time to grab their carry-on luggage while waiting to ********.

“It would be like if your whole house was on **** and you had to go out the door,” she said.

Guidance posted online by the Federal Aviation Administration advises passengers to leave bags on board during an ********** — but does not mandate it. ******* crews may make that announcement during preflight safety demonstrations, and during an *********, would typically tell people to leave bags behind. Passengers are required by law to follow all crew instructions, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

“Flight attendants are the first line of defence in emergencies,” he said, declining to address whether the agency believed *********-evacuations-with-bags were an increasing ******* that merited any regulatory action or public education campaign.

Airlines vary in whether their preflight briefings tell passengers to abandon belongings in an **********, according to Stephen Schembs, the flight attendant union’s government affairs director.

With the advent of checked bag fees, many passengers opt to bring important items on board rather than check them. The union said for years it has advocated fewer passenger items in the cabin and for full-scale ********** demonstrations when an aircraft is redesigned, especially if passenger capacity is increased. The latter is to ensure that the plane can still ******** safely within 90 seconds, as required by the FAA.

Within five short minutes, the passengers on the British Airways flight were evacuated and the flames were out.