Two men walk along Rajpath amid smoggy conditions in New Delhi on January 28, 2021. Photo: VCG

A New Delhi-bound flight carrying 185 passengers made an emergency landing on Sunday in the eastern Indian city of Patna, after its left engine caught fire while in flight, officials said.

The passengers aboard the flight, operated by commercial carrier SpiceJet, were evacuated safely once the pilot returned to Patna airport after takeoff.

"The flight returned to Patna airport after locals [on the ground] noticed a fire on the left wing of the aircraft and informed airport officials," magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh told reporters.

"All 185 passengers were safely deboarded. Reason for the fire is a technical glitch. The engineering team is analyzing," Singh added.

A passenger told reporters that there was noise heard on board the plane in the first 15 minutes after takeoff.

"The pilot announced there was some problem and that we would be going back to Patna.... it was quite scary," said Pacifica, who gave only one name.

A bird hitting the engine may have sparked the fire, local news NDTV quoted aviation sources as saying.

The no-frills SpiceJet airline has been in the news in recent weeks, with aviation authorities imposing a fine of 1 million Indian rupees (about 12,830 US dollars) for training its Boeing 737 MAX pilots on a faulty simulator.

In April, authorities barred 90 SpiceJet pilots from operating that aircraft, saying they were not properly trained, according to local media reports.

AFP