Passenger plane catches fire, makes emergency landing in southern India

A passenger plane, with 69 people on board, made an emergency landing after it caught fire soon after taking off from Bengaluru airport in southern India Wednesday.However, there have been no reports of any casualty. In a statement, private airlines Jet Airways, operating the domestic flight, said that its plane headed to the neighboring city of Mangalore from Bengaluru had to return to the airport minutes after it took off after smoke was detected in its cabin. Flight 9W 2839, with 65 passengers and four crew members aboard, took off from

Bengaluru airport at 10 a.m. (local time) and returned at 10.20 a.m. (local time), according to the airlines.

The airlines has said that all passengers and crew members are safe.

"The precautionary evacuation of the passengers and crew was carried out immediately on landing. All 64 passengers and four crew members are safe," it said.

However, local TV channels reported that four passengers had to be administered first aid at the airport and several fire tenders were kept on stand by at the airport to avoid any untoward incident.

The Bengaluru airport was closed briefly for landing and take-off in the morning due to the emergency landing by the Jet Airways flight, an Indian aviation official said.

The official also said that a probe has been ordered into the incident.