Qatar Airways flight makes emergency landing after engine catches fire
A Qatar Airways flight has been forced to make an emergency landing in Istanbul after one of the engines caught fire.
Flight QR240 had departed Istanbul for Doha when the fire was sparked shortly after take-off.
The pilots then turned the Airbus 330 around and landed safely at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Thursday.
"Qatar Airways can confirm that today's QR240 from Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) to Doha (DOH) has returned to Istanbul and has landed safely," a Qatar spokesperson said.
"The passengers have disembarked as normal. The pilot followed all QR safety procedures."
Witness Mehmet Kirazoglu captured footage of the plane flying above him and said the pilots drained some of the fuel before making the emergency landing.
"I suppose it drained its fuel to Marmara Sea," he said.
"At one point it was over us and (I) saw the burning engine clearly.
"It did not close (the) landing gears ad continued to climb."
It is unclear how many passengers were onboard the flight at the time.
