Qantas plane engine failure sparks fire at Sydney Airport

SYDNEY - Qantas confirmed that a flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport after experiencing engine failure that sparked a fire next to a runway on Friday.

Qantas flight QF520 from Sydney to Brisbane was forced to return to Sydney Airport after a loud bang was heard upon takeoff just before 1 pm local time.

At the same time, a grass fire was ignited near the airport's third runway, triggering an emergency response. The fire was extinguished in the afternoon and Airservices Australia confirmed that it was sparked by the Boeing 737-800.

Qantas said in a statement that the plane experienced a suspected engine failure shortly after takeoff and landed safely back at the airport after circling for a short period of time.

"Our pilots are highly trained to handle situations like this and the aircraft landed safely after the appropriate procedures were conducted," Chief Pilot Richard Tobiano said.

"We understand this would have been a distressing experience for customers and we will be contacting all customers this afternoon to provide support. We will also be conducting an investigation into what caused the engine issue."

The plane was surrounded by firefighting crews upon its return to the airport and passengers were escorted safely back to the terminal. No injuries were reported.

Images posted on social media showed smoke billowing across the airport from the grass fire, which forced flights to be diverted and caused delays averaging 45 minutes. Eleven domestic flights departing from the airport were canceled.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the federal government agency with jurisdiction over all transport-related incidents, announced it commenced an investigation and quarantined the aircraft's cockpit voice and flight data recorders.