Airliner diverts and lands in New Zealand after fire knocks out engine

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

The Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 bound for Melbourne, Australia, landed in the New Zealand city of Invercargill after the fire forced it to divert.

Fire trucks greeted the plane when it arrived in Invercargill about 50 minutes after taking off from Queenstown, said Lynn Crosson, team leader for Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

The cause of the engine fire and the number of passengers on board the plane were not immediately known, Queenstown Airport spokeswoman Catherine Nind said.

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

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

The rate of birds hitting planes at New Zealand airports is about four in 10,000 aircraft movements, the country's aviation regulator says on its website. The consequences vary in severity depending on where the plane is hit, the size of the birds and the pilot's reaction, the agency said.