Boeing 747 cargo plane drops engine parts in Netherlands, investigation launched

The cargo plane, flight 5504, scattered small metal parts over the southern Dutch town of Meerssen, causing damage and injuring a woman, Maastricht Airport spokeswoman Hella Hendriks said.

"The photos indicate they were parts of engine blade, but that's being investigated," she said. "Several cars were damaged and bits hit several houses. Pieces were found across the residential neighbourhood on roofs, gardens and streets."

At least dozens of pieces fell, she said, measuring round 5 centimetres (a couple of inches) wide and up to 25 centimetres (10 inches)long.

Boeing referred questions to Dutch authorities.

"Our investigation is still in a preliminary phase, it is too early to draw conclusions," a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board said on Monday.

Witnesses said they saw fire in one of the engines of the plane, which landed safely at Liege airport in Belgium, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Maastricht.

The cargo plane, which was supposed to fly from the Netherlands to New York, used a Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine, a smaller version of one on a United Airlines Boeing 777 involved in an incident on Saturday.

Boeing said on Sunday that it was recommending airlines halt flights of some older, PW4000-powered versions of its 777 airliner pending engine inspections after the United 777 suffered an engine fire and scattered debris over Denver in the United States at the weekend.