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Passenger Plane Lands in New Zealand after Fire Shuts Down an Engine

Engineers work on the Royal New Zealand Air Force plane that carried New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon into Papua New Guinea, at the Port Moresby International Airport in Port Moresby on June 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Engineers work on the Royal New Zealand Air Force plane that carried New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon into Papua New Guinea, at the Port Moresby International Airport in Port Moresby on June 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Passenger Plane Lands in New Zealand after Fire Shuts Down an Engine

Engineers work on the Royal New Zealand Air Force plane that carried New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon into Papua New Guinea, at the Port Moresby International Airport in Port Moresby on June 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Engineers work on the Royal New Zealand Air Force plane that carried New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon into Papua New Guinea, at the Port Moresby International Airport in Port Moresby on June 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

A passenger plane landed safely at a New Zealand airport on Monday after a fire shut down one of its engines, the nation’s fire service said.

The Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 jet bound for Melbourne, Australia, landed in the New Zealand city of Invercargill after the fire forced a diversion.

Fire trucks met the plane as it arrived in Invercargill about 50 minutes after takeoff from Queenstown, said Lynn Crosson, shift supervisor for Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

The cause of the engine fire was not immediately known, Queenstown Airport spokesperson Catherine Nind said.

Virgin Australia said in an emailed statement that the incident may have been caused by “a possible bird strike.”

Queenstown, with a population of 53,000, is popular tourist destination on New Zealand's South Island, famous for skiing, adventure tourism and alpine vistas.

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At Least 52 Dead after Helene's Deadly March Across Southeastern US

John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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At Least 52 Dead after Helene's Deadly March Across Southeastern US

John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
John Taylor puts up an American flag on his destroyed property in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hurricane Helene caused at least 52 deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern US as it raced through, and more than 3 million customers went into the weekend without any power and for some a continued threat of floods.

Helene blew ashore in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. Video shows sections of Asheville underwater.
There were hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.
At least 48 people have been killed in the storm; among them were three firefighters, a woman and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. According to an Associated Press tally, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.