Engine catches fire on United Airlines flight headed to San Francisco
New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport has temporarily closed after a plane engine caught fire.
United Airlines Flight 1579 from Newark to San Francisco was scheduled to take off Tuesday night when its engine caught fire, officials say.
A spokesman for United, Jonathan Guerin, said the tower notified the crew of what appeared to be flames from one of the engines. He said the crew immediately deployed the plane’s slides and evacuated the passengers.
Guerin reported one minor injury. He said the airline was working to get the passengers to San Francisco as soon as possible.
The airport said on Twitter that it was “temporarily closed due to deployment of emergency chutes” on the plane.
It was unclear late Tuesday when the airport would reopen.
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