Passengers left stranded in New Zealand after a Boeing 737 plane was forced to divert from its flight to Melbourne are facing a long day's travel to their destination.
Queenstown Airport said the Virgin Australia flight VA148 departed Queenstown at 5.50pm yesterday, bound for Melbourne when it experienced an issue just after take-off.
It was then diverted to Invercargill Airport, where it landed safely.
Virgin Australia Chief Operations Officer Stuart Aggs said in a statement that the plane ran into problems following a possible bird strike on take off.
"The aircraft has been met by emergency services at Invercargill Airport.
The safety of our guests and crew is our highest priority," Aggs said.
Passengers waking in Invercargill this morning will be bussed to Queenstown, Virgin told 9News.
They will fly to Brisbane late this afternoon, arriving at about 6.25pm.
From there, they will finally travel on to Melbourne.
Witnesses yesterday said saw flames coming from one of the engines and heard loud bangs.
Darren Robinson filmed the plane going over his house and told Stuff the flames were noticeable. He said he heard a "loud bang" and went outside and saw fire coming from the plane.
"I was inside with the kids and heard something that sounded like someone was doing donuts or something. I went outside and saw flames coming out of this plane's engine."
"They were not constant flames, more like boom, boom, boom. It was almost like it was backfiring," he said.
Robinson added the flames were decent and were spinning out the back of the plane's engine.
A passenger said to be on the flight said on X (formerly Twitter) that they could feel the flames as the plane took off.
"I could feel the flames as we took off. I'm sitting just behind the wing on the right-hand side. Full view of the light show!"
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze soon after 6pm when the plane took off from Queenstown Airport, Fire and Emergency southern shift manager Lyn Crosson said.
"It looked like fire showing from one engine," she said.
"The engine has been shut down so it's not an issue, and we have got crews on the ground at Invercargill Airport as a precaution only."
She had received reports that the fire may have been caused by a bird strike, but had not received confirmation.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, celebrity and sport via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
