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An Air Canada plane with 128 passengers on board has made an emergency landing in Madrid after part of the landing gear reportedly fell into an engine.

Spain’s Defence Ministry said that an F18 fighter jet was dispatched from a military airport near the Spanish capital to evaluate the damage done to the landing gear of Toronto-bound Flight AC837.

The plane returned to Madrid and made an emergency landing at about 7.15am local time (6.15pm UK time).

Pictures posted on social media show flames coming from the left engine of the plane.

The same person also posted a video of the inside of the plane as it made its landing at Adolfo Suarez-Barajas international airport.

The Boeing 767-300 aircraft had departed from the same airport earlier in the day and was scheduled to land in Toronto at 3.40pm local time.

After the pilot requested an emergency landing half an hour into the flight, it spent several hours circling to the the south east of Madrid in an effort to burn fuel before landing.

In a statement, Air Canada said the plane “experienced an engine issue shortly after take-off” as well as a ruptured tyre.

It added that the aircraft “is designed to operate on one engine and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality”.

“Nonetheless, an emergency was declared in order to obtain landing priority,” Air Canada said.

A spokeswoman with Spain’s airport operator AENA said the airline had requested a slot for an emergency landing some 30 minutes after take-off.

A spokesman for Enaire, Spain’s air navigation authority, said the plane’s landing gear did not fold up properly on taking off and that a piece of it may have damaged part of one of the engines.

Emergency service vehicles including fire engines and ambulances have been deployed at the Spanish capital’s airport.

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper’s website published audio it said featured the plane’s pilot explaining to the passengers the need to return to Madrid because a wheel had been damaged during take-off.

“Because we are a bit too heavy, we have to get rid of fuel before being able to land,” the voice can be heard saying in Spanish.

Madrid residents posted videos online showing a plane flying unusually low over the Spanish capital’s centre and suburbs.

It was the second incident of the day at Madrid’s international airport, the busiest in the country.

Earlier on Monday, the airport closed for more than an hour due to the reported sighting of drones in the vicinity.