Fire forces Cathay emergency landing in Singapore

source: mb.com.ph

SINGAPORE (AFP) – An engine fire forced an Indonesia-bound Cathay Pacific jet to make an emergency landing in Singapore shortly after it took off from the city-state Monday, airport officials said.

"A Cathay Pacific flight, CX715, bound for Jakarta, departed Singapore Changi Airport at 0112 hours today (1712 GMT Sunday)," a statement issued by the airport said.

"Due to an engine-related issue, the aircraft turned back to Changi Airport and landed safely at 0157 hours," it added.

"Upon the landing of the aircraft, Changi Airport's airport emergency service responded immediately with six fire vehicles and extinguished a fire in one of the engines."

Singapore's Changi Airport had to close a runway for more than an hour due to the incident.

Cathay said in a statement that the plane's crew received "a stall warning from the No. 2 engine" shortly after it took off.

"The crew shut down the Rolls-Royce engine when they received the alert (and) an emergency landing was declared," the statement said.

"The aircraft stopped on the taxiway and sparks from the No. 2 engine were reported. They were doused by fire extinguishers."

The plane's 136 passengers were unharmed, Cathay stated.

"Cathay Pacific and Rolls-Royce are investigating the incident, which has been reported to the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department," the airline said.

Two Qantas jets -- one of them an Airbus A380 superjumbo -- made emergency landings at Changi Airport within the space of two days in November last year.

source: mb.com.ph