Holiday jet turns back after engine scare

A holiday jet carrying more than 200 passengers was forced to turn back after a problem with an engine shortly after take-off.

Monarch flight ZB932 left Birmingham International Airport at 6.45pm yesterday bound for Tenerife, but returned to the airport 10 minutes later after the pilots shut down an engine because of an "engine fault indication".

Smoke and fire were reportedly seen coming from the plane, but the airline said there were no sign of a blaze. All 213 passengers on the Airbus A321 disembarked safely.

A fire crew met the plane after it landed back at Birmingham as a precaution, Monarch added.

"The plane was checked over and none of our reports show any indication of a fire," an airline spokesman said.

"The engineers are still investigating what happened."

One eyewitness, Emily Clarkson, told the BBC that she saw a "big burst of fire" from the left side of the aeroplane as it left the ground.

She added that it happened again after a few moments and black smoke could be seen.

Monarch said: "Shortly after take-off, a problem with the left-hand engine forced its shut down and as a precautionary measure the flight diverted back to Birmingham.

"The aircraft landed safely at 6.55pm and all passengers disembarked as normal."

The passengers were put up for the night and were due to leave on another flight today.