The engine of a United Airlines plane was on fire shortly after takeoff over the weekend, causing aircraft debris to rain down on a neighborhood in Colorado.
According to CNN and NBC News, United Flight 328 was en route to Honolulu, Hawaii, from Denver on Saturday afternoon when the right engine failed and erupted into flames. The flight was carrying 231 travelers and 10 crew members.
As the plane lost altitude, the pilot onboard issued a mayday call, telling air traffic controllers "we've experienced engine failure," CNN reported.
Passengers onboard recorded the terrifying moment the engine caught on fire and shared it on social media. "Flight 328 @united engine caught fire. My parents on this flight. everyone's okay though!" wrote one Twitter user, who credited the video to a passenger onboard.
"I was sitting in the middle of the plane and there was a loud explosion. The plane just started shuddering and it was that way for about a half an hour until the plane landed," passenger Mike Vena told KCNC.
"There was a big boom and the kind of sound you don't want to hear when you're on the airplane. And I instantly put my shade up, and I was pretty frightened to see that the, the engine on my side was missing," passenger Travis Loock told CNN.
"My daughter was sitting on the window and I was just like, 'Don't look, let's close it up, and let's just pray.' So that's what we did. We kind of just held hands and said some prayers," passenger Brenda Dohn told KUSA.
"United flight 328 departed from DEN this afternoon and returned shortly after with reported mechanical issues. The aircraft has landed safely and no injuries have been reported. Big thanks to the pilot and crew for safely landing the aircraft," Denver International Airport tweeted.
While the flight ultimately returned to Denver International Airport safely around 1:30 p.m. local time, debris from the flight fell from the sky and landed in the neighborhoods below.
Broomfield Police Department first confirmed reports of the falling debris on Twitter and said the debris landed in Commons Park and the Northmoor and Red Leaf neighborhoods of Broomfield, roughly 25 miles north of Denver and 30 miles west of the airport.
Rachel Welte of the Broomfield Police Department said at a news conference that residents were reporting the debris falling and initially thought there was a plane falling from the sky, according to CNN.
Welte said no one was injured as a result of the falling debris.
"We could have hundreds of people here and the fact that we're not getting reports of any injuries is absolutely shocking at this point," she said. "It's amazing."
On Saturday, Real Housewives of Potomac star Robyn Dixon said on Instagram that her brother, Marc Macel, was on the flight and is safe. "I can't express the relief I felt hearing his voice. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️❤️❤️," the Bravo star wrote.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the incident and is asking residents to not touch any fallen debris from the plane.
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