Cathay Pacific flight makes emergency landing after passengers fear wing was on fire

The Airbus A330 was diverted to Bali due to a defect with one of its engines

The Cathay Pacific flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Denpasar on Bali, Indonesia (AFP/Getty Images)

A Cathay Pacific flight en route to Hong Kong from Australia made an emergency landing in Indonesia after one of its engines failed.

The twin-engine Airbus A330 left the west coast city of Perth just before midnight on Thursday carrying 254 passengers, but was diverted to Denpasar on Bali, Indonesia, due to an “engine defect”, the Hong Kong-based airline said.

The engine was shut down and an emergency landing was declared.

Fire services met the flight, CX170, which landed safely.

No one was injured.

Joel Sirna, a passenger on the flight, said he and others were woken up by a loud noise and then shuddering off the Bali coast.

“Mid-flight, we heard a loud bang and the plane started to shake,“ he told Perth Radio 6PR from Denpasar.

“All the lights went out and I looked to the window and have just seen some flames and some sparks - the wing and the motor were on fire.”

Mr Sirna said some passengers were very distressed and were screaming and that others had tried to calm them down.

But Cathay Pacific said there had not been a fire on board.

A spokesman for the airline said: “There were reports that some passengers saw sparks and flames from outside the window.

“We can confirm that what witnesses saw was a light due to the engine failure, not a real fire.”

Cathay Pacific said it is investigating the incident.

Additional reporting by Press Association