A massive cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing soon after departing from an airport in Miami as the aircraft suffered an "engine malfunction," an airline official said.
Flight 5Y095, an Atlas Air Boeing 747-8 cargo plane, departed from Miami International Airport (MIA) en route to Puerto Rico on Thursday at approximately 10:11 p.m. ET. It soon began experiencing an engine malfunction, immediately turned back to MIA and landed safely within an hour, an Atlas Air spokesperson told Fox News.
"The crew followed all standard procedures and safely returned to MIA," the statement read, noting safety is the company’s top priority. Atlas Air also said it will be conducting a thorough inspection to determine what caused the malfunction.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said its post-flight inspection revealed a "softball-sized hole" above the aircraft's #2 engine.
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It is not immediately clear how many crew members were on board at the time. The plane's destination was the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico.
According to Reuters, several witnesses reported seeing flames coming from the plane’s left wing.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue told Fox News Digital that the aircraft landed safely and there were no reported injuries.
Six MDFR units responded to the Miami International Airport and "were on standby for landing," MDFR said.
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The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-8, Flightaware data showed. It never climbed above 3,800 ft. during the abruptly ended flight.
Earlier in the month, an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 airliner made an emergency landing after it took off from Portland, Oregon as part of its fuselage broke off.
The incident prompted FAA to temporarily ground certain aircraft for safety checks.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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