Horror as plane engine catches fire on take-off
Passengers on board an Ikar Airlines flight were left terrified after an explosion in the plane's engine.
The Boeing 767 flight was leaving Simferopol in the Crimea and heading to Irkutsk in Siberia when the incident took place on June 23.
According to the Mirror, flight IK112 left debris all over the runway after the explosion.
It's thought that a bird became caught in the right-hand engine, resulting in a ball of fire emerging from the engine.
Denis Makovetskiy said: "I was around 600 feet away from the scene when it happened. The landing gear had already left the ground when there was some sort of an explosion that came from the engine on the right side of the plane."
"Something fell and then there was smoke and fire. I heard some more explosions, but the plane continued to take off. All the action happened in around five seconds, and left debris behind on the runway.
"Airport staff then rushed in to clear up the rubbish, and fire trucks and ambulances turned up. After a quarter of an hour the plane landed again when the airstrip was clean."
The incident meant that the plane had to stop its ascent at 5,000 and shut down the engine. The aircraft was then forced to burn fuel at 3,000 feet until they were cleared to land at Simferopol again before another aircraft took the passengers to Irkutsk.
None of the passengers on the plane were injured during the short flight.
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