A fire in one of the engines of a Boeing 747 aircraft forced KLM to abort a flight carrying 430 passengers and crew from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, according to dpa. KLM flight 592 landed safely back at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg shortly after midnight after one of the engines had failed due to fire. One of the four engines of the Boeing 747-400 began to vibrate and flames emerged, KLM spokesman Bart Koster in Amsterdam told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The aircraft immediately returned to Johannesburg, where it made a successful emergency landing after jettisoning fuel. All 430 passengers and the crew left the aeroplane safely. "A Boeing 747-400 aircraft can theoretically fly on two engines," Koster said. One passenger speaking to SAfm public radio in Johannesburg said she had seen black smoke when she looked out of the aircraft. "The passengers did not panic. They praised the crew for the way they handled the situation," Koster claimed, adding that all passengers were currently being rebooked on other flights to Amsterdam. KLM did not know yet what caused the incident. "We will launch an investigation," Koster said. "Technicians are currently removing the engine so that it can be shipped to our headquarters in Amsterdam."
