According to Longtail Aviation, the charter airline that owns the plane, the plane was on its way to JFK Airport in New York and was a Boeing 747-400 cargo aircraft.
The crew of the plane noticed an engine problem shortly after takeoff, Longtail Aviation said in a statement to CNN. The crew followed ‘correct procedures to investigate the problem’, the airline said.
“As a result, the decision was made, with the approval of the air traffic, to lead to Airport, Belgium, where it landed safely,” the airline said.
“Our flight crew handled this situation professionally and in accordance with the correct aviation standards, which resulted in a safe and unchanging landing,” said Martin Amick, responsible manager of Longtail Aviation. “We are now working closely with the Dutch, Belgian, Bermuda and British authorities to understand the cause of this incident.”
However, due to these engine problems, metal parts fell in Meerssen in the St. Joseph Street area, the Safety Region (safety inspector) said.
Two people were lightly injured. One of them was taken to a hospital, the security inspector said. Several cars and houses were also damaged, the safety inspector added.
MAA said in a statement that the aircraft “has general cargo and pharmaceutical products on board”.
“A few seconds after the plane took off, air traffic control saw an engine fire and notified the pilots. They turned off the engine in question and sent an emergency signal,” MAA said.
MAA said the pilot preferred to land on Liege due to its longer runway, which gives the aircraft more room to land safely.
“We understand that people were shocked and regret that this happened,” MAA said. “Our attention now focuses primarily on those directly involved in this incident.”
The Boeing 747 cargo plane in this incident was registered as VQ-BWT, according to the CNN Belgium subsidiary HLN-VTM News.
Longtail Aviation is in St. George’s, Bermuda, based and founded in August 1999, according to its website. Longtail offers global rental services, cargo support, aircraft management and sales, the website said.
CNN contacted Boeing for comment.
A United Airlines flight was forced to return to Denver International Airport after it had an engine outage shortly after takeoff, causing plane crashes in a suburb to rain. The Boeing 777-200 returned safely to Denver International Airport and no one was injured.
Boeing said in a statement to CNN on Saturday night that the company’s technical advisers were supporting the NTSB in its investigation into the flight.