Boeing cargo plane catches fire mid-air, makes emergency landing at Miami airport

An Atlas Air cargo plane made an emergency landing at Miami International Airport in the US after one of its engines caught fire shortly after departure.

“The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned to MIA,” stated Atlas Air in a release, as reported by the news agency Reuters. The cargo company further added that it would conduct an inspection to determine the cause of the incident that occurred late on Thursday.

Unverified videos on social media platform X showed flames shooting out of the left wing of the aircraft while in flight. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-8, powered by four General Electric GEnx engines.

After the incident, emergency vehicles responded, and no injuries were reported, as confirmed by the airport authorities to Reuters. The exact size of the onboard crew was not clear at the time of publishing this news story.

A few days ago, a California-bound JetBlue flight had to abort takeoff from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport runway after a fire was reported on board.

The aircraft was preparing for departure around 8:30 pm when the crew informed the control tower of the flames. Subsequently, all 180 passengers were evacuated to allow fire officials to extinguish the reported flames, and potential technical glitches could be averted.