Flames seen shooting from engine of United Airlines flight before emergency landing
A United Airlines flight traveling from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, had to turn around for an emergency landing after experiencing an engine issue on Monday, the airline confirmed.
A video shared on Storyful by Dorian Cerda shows flames spewing out of one of the plane's engines as a crew member acknowledged what was going on.
"Hey, ladies and gentlemen. We realize something happened outside," the crew member said over the plane's loudspeaker.
Cerda said they were about 15 minutes into the flight when the incident occurred.
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A statement from United Airlines says flight 1118 landed safely back in Houston after the turnaround, and "passengers deplaned normally."
A new aircraft took customers to Fort Myers later in the evening.
The plane was a Boeing 737-900, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
The flight originally left George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 6:22 p.m. CST, arriving back in Houston at 7:21 p.m., FlightAware records show.
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United Airlines did not disclose the cause of the engine fire, but the New York Post says the incident is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.