Denver plane: United Airlines flight returns to airport if plane crashes in suburbs outside Denver

It was about 20 minutes later police in Broomfield, Colorado, said via Twitter that they received reports that a plane flying over the suburb of Denver had engine problems and “dropped garbage in several neighborhoods around 1:08 p.m.”

Authorities have yet to definitively link the two incidents, but the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a statement that a Boeing 777-200 returned safely to Denver International Airport after experiencing a direct engine outage shortly after takeoff.

“The FAA is aware of reports of debris in the vicinity of the aircraft’s flight path,” the statement read.

CNN contacted United Airlines for additional information.

Broomfield police have warned residents not to touch or move aircraft debris when they see it in their yard.

Kieran Cain told CNN he was playing with his children at a local elementary school when a plane flew over and they heard a loud surge.

“We saw it going on, we heard the big explosion, we looked up, there was black smoke in the air,” Cain told CNN.

“Debris started to rain, you know, it looks like it’s floating down and not very heavy, but actually look at it now. These are giant pieces of metal everywhere,” he said.

“I was amazed that the plane continued uninterrupted without really changing the runway or doing anything,” he said. “It just kept going as it happened as if nothing had happened.”

Cain said he and his children were taking shelter under an overhang when the debris came down.