Patna, June 19: A Patna-Delhi SpiceJet flight (Boeing 737-800) made an emergency landing soon after take-off on Sunday as a fire was reported at the plane. According to reports, the engine of the plane caught fire and was first noticed by local people.

The DGCA said a bird hit the plane and one engine got shut. Over 180 passengers were on board and there has been no report of any injury.

The statement issued by DGCA said that “SpiceJet B737-800 aircraft VT-SYZ operating flight SG-723 (Patna-Delhi) was involved in Airturnback as cabin crew informed PIC about sparks coming out of Engine No. 1. During rotation, the cockpit crew suspected a bird hit on Engine No.1. Since the crew did not observe any abnormality aircraft continued further to climb. Subsequently, the cabin crew Informed PIC about sparks coming from Engine 1. As such, PIC carried out Engine Fire NNC followed by Engine Failure or Shutdown NNC. The crew declared PAN-PAN and decided to return to Patna. ATC was apprised about the same.”

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took to Twitter immediately after the report came and said this is playing with the lives of passengers. “Repeatedly been raising this with the minister, with the aviation secretary. Don’t know when they will rise to the occasion and avoid a major mishap waiting to happen,” Chaturvedi tweeted.

The airline, of late, has been at the centre of many security-related incidents. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation last month imposed a fine of ₹10 lakh on SpiceJet for training its Boeing 737 Max aircraft’s pilots on a faulty simulator as it could have adversely impacted flight safety.

In April, the DGCA had barred 90 SpiceJet pilots from operating the Max aircraft after finding them not properly trained.