This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

An Air Canada Boeing 767 with 128 passengers onboard has made an emergency landing in Madrid due to technical problems after taking off from the city’s Barajas airport.

The Toronto-bound flight AC837 departed from the Spanish capital early on Monday afternoon but had to request an emergency return after one of its two engines was damaged and a tyre ruptured during takeoff. There was no immediate information as to what had caused the malfunction.

Passengers described a tense mood on the plane as it spent nearly four hours flying in circles near Madrid to burn off fuel before its emergency landing.

“Obviously a lot of nervous tension while we were in the air, but the pilots did a terrific job landing the plane,” said one passenger, Brock Mierzejewski from Vancouver. “We are still in a little bit of shock but glad to be safe,” he told Associated Press.

Another passenger, who had posted images from inside the plane while it was still in the air, tweeted: “Pretty scary rough landing, but we made it. Thanks for all the messages and wishes.”

Aaron C. (@thelastfedor) #AC837 so just at take off there was a huge bang under my seat and then I saw smoke and flames from the left engine. This pic is from a quick video I took and one frame shows the fire for a split second. pic.twitter.com/f67Tp43XI6

Spain’s defence ministry dispatched an F18 fighter jet to evaluate the damage done to the Boeing’s landing gear as it flew around Madrid.

Emergency vehicles approached the aircraft on the tarmac of Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport soon after it landed at 7.13pm local time (1813 GMT).

In a statement, Air Canada said the plane “experienced an engine issue shortly after takeoff”, as well as a ruptured tyre – one of 10 on the Boeing 767-300. It added that the aircraft was “designed to operate on one engine and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The underside of the Air Canada plane, giving a view of its burst tyre (left). Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

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

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

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper published audio on its website which it said featured the plane’s pilot explaining to passengers the need to return to Madrid, because a wheel had been damaged during takeoff.

Madrid residents posted videos online showing a plane flying unusually low over the city’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 over an hour due to the reported sighting of drones in the vicinity.