Qantas plane makes emergency landing in Singapore

SINGAPORE - A Qantas plane made an emergency landing in Singapore after dumping fuel over Indonesia’s Batam island Thursday, officials said.

Australia’s Qantas Airways confirmed that there had been no crash, saying one of its planes had experienced engine trouble and had safely returned to Singapore airport after circling the island republic to use up fuel.

“There has not been a crash,” a spokeswoman said, adding that flight QF32 had been forced to shut down one engine.

Singapore’s aviation authority said that there had been no crash and confirmed the plane had landed at Changi airport.

“The plane landed at 11.47 a.m. (0347 GMT),” a spokeswoman said. The airliner, bound for Sydney from Singapore, experienced technical problems shortly after take-off at 9.56 a.m., she said, without giving further details.

According to news reports, 433 people had been on board the A380 aircraft.

Indonesia’s transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan also confirmed the plane had landed in Singapore.

Indonesia’s Metro TV reported residents in Batam found broken pieces, believed to be plane parts, after they heard an explosion in the air and saw smoke from a plane flying over the area.

“We heard a loud explosion and after that the plane emitted dark smoke from the left wing,” a resident, identified as Reinhard, told Metro TV.

“The plane was still flying but residents found pieces — one of them was about 80 cm,” he said.

Metro showed a photo from a local police station showing metal pieces painted red and white.