A Thai AirAsia flight from the Maldives to Bangkok turned back shortly after take-off and safely made an emergency landing on Thursday night after a fire was reported in one of its engines.
Thai AirAsia said on Friday that pilots on Flight FD178 from Male, the capital of the Maldives, returned to Valena International Airport shortly after departure due to "technical problems".
The flight left the airport at 8.25pm local time and returned to the same airport at 8.41pm.
Clips and reports on The Edition news website, a sister publication of the English-language section of the Dhivehi-language Mihaaru, said a fire had been seen in one of the engines of the Airbus A320-200.
"Witnesses claimed that an engine of the plane was on fire when it took off," it said, adding that the fire was put out before the plane landed.