A passenger plane landed safely at a New Zealand airport on Monday after one of its engines stopped due to a fire, according to the New Zealand fire service.
He Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 bound for Melbourne, Australia, landed in the New Zealand city of Invercargill after fire forced the aircraft to divert.
Fire trucks were waiting for the plane when it arrived in Invercargill, about 50 minutes after it took off from Queenstown, said Lyyn Crosson, a shift supervisor with New Zealand’s fire and emergency service.
The cause of the fire and the number of people on board the plane were initially unknown, said Queenstown airport spokeswoman Chaterine Ning.
Virgin Australia chief operating officer Stuart Aggs said to Newsweek that: “Virgin Australia flight VA148 from Queenstown to Invercargill Airport landed safely after a possible collision with a bird at takeoff this afternoon.”
He added that the plane “was met by emergency services at Invercargill airport. “The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority.”
“At the moment, We are not aware of any physical injuries. between guests or crew. Emergency services personnel are on the ground at Invercargill Airport,” she said.
Aggs added: “The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 registered VH-YIV, departed Queenstown at approximately 6:00 pm local time and landed safely in Invercargill at approximately 6:50 pm. There were 67 guests and 6 crew on board”.
“We would like to express our gratitude for the support of Invercargill Airport, emergency services, local Air New Zealand team members and our onboard crew in assisting with tonight’s response effort.”
For its part, a spokesperson for Fire Emergency New Zealand told the same media that “Fire and emergency teams responded to Invercargill airport this afternoon after receiving reports that a plane had diverted from Queenstown airport at around 6 p.m. late. The flames were reported to be coming from an engine.
“Fire engines from Invercargill and Kingswell attended along with the Invercargill Airport fire team and support from a commando unit. The plane landed safely and Fire and Emergency crews left the scene.”.
Queenstown, which has 53,000 residents, is a popular tourist destination on New Zealand’s South Island known for its ski areas, adventure tourism and mountain views.
The rate of bird strikes on aircraft at New Zealand airports is about four per 10,000 aircraft movements, according to the country’s air regulatory agency website. The consequences of these episodes can be of different severity depending on where on the aircraft the impact occurs, the size of the bird and the pilot’s reaction, according to the agency.
(with information from AP)
