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Qatar Airways has issued a statement on their twitter account to confirm that the plane has landed safely
- Aircraft forced to land at Ataturk Airport with one of its engines on fire
- The Airbus A330, flight QR240 had been headed for Doha, Qatar
- Officials said the landing gear had failed to retract on take-off
- No reports of any casualties and passengers disembarked safely
A
Qatar Airways aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at
Istanbul's Ataturk airport today (Thursday) after one of its engines
caught fire shortly after take-off, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.
The
Airbus A330 had been headed for Doha but had to turn back to Ataturk
airport less than 30 minutes into its journey, after its landing gear
failed to retract on take-off, an airport official said.
Shocking videos have captured flames shooting out of the passenger jet's engine as it returns to the Istanbul hub.
The official could not confirm a report by broadcaster CNN Turk that one of the plane's engines caught fire.
It was not immediately clear how many passengers and crew were on board the flight but there were no reports of any casualties.
A
spokesperson for Qatar Airways told MailOnline: 'Qatar Airways can
confirm that today's QR240 from Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) to Doha
(DOH) has returned to Istanbul and has landed safely.
'The passengers have disembarked as normal. The pilot followed all QR safety procedures.'
Turkey's
state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the emergency landing was
ordered after flames came out of the plane's left-side engine.
Mehmet
Kirazoglu, who first reported the plane landing on Twitter said: ‘I
was in Turkish Airlines Technology building nearby the IST airport we
heard a strange engine sound over us.
‘When [we looked] up we saw a Qatar Airways plane whose left engine was flaming out.
‘It
turned round towards sea, I suppose it drained its fuel [in the]
Marmara Sea. Thank god, we have learnt that it landed safely.’
This is a developing story.
Qatar
Airways is one of the Mideast's three biggest carriers, alongside the
region's biggest carrier, the Dubai-based Emirates Airline, and the
Abu-Dhabi based Etihad Airways.
The three have increasingly challenged Western airlines in long-haul flights.
Qatar
Airways flies out of its hub in the vast new Hamad International
Airport in Doha, which is preparing to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
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