Sydney - Passengers aboard a Boeing 737 on an internal flight in Australia alerted their Virgin Blue crew Thursday of flames from an engine, news reports said. The captain aborted the flight to Sydney and returned to Launceston, Tasmania, where the landing was made with one engine shut down.
Sonia Parker, one of 151 passengers aboard, said there was a loud bang soon after takeoff.
"The pilot said they had checked everything and they had an engine down and that we could make it to Sydney on one engine but he wasn't happy so we were heading back to Launceston," she said.
Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger described the problem as an "engine surge" that had required the engine to be shut down.
"The pilot communicated to the passengers that everything was fine and they had sufficient engine power to land safely," she said.
Bolger said reports the engine blew up were incorrect.
