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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Chiara Fiorillo

Passengers hear loud explosion and begin praying after engine TEARS OFF plane mid-air

Passengers heard a loud explosion and began praying for their lives when a plane engine came off mid-air.

Iolani Kuoha, the vice-principal of a school, was escorting children from the Hawaiian island of Molokai to Oahu for a conference, when she heard a "really loud" noise that she described as "an explosion".

She said she tried to be as calm as she could as she did not want to make the children scared - and added she texted her daughter mid-air to ask her to pray for her.

She said: "I didn't want to freak out. I didn't want to stress out the students, so I tried to be as calm as I could."

Her daughter Ōlelo Hamakua-Poepoe added: "I was like, oh my God. I better start praying. I was very, very shocked and worried."

Passengers prayed for their lives (hawaiinewsnow.com/)

Despite the engine failure, the Southern Airways Express plane flew more than 20 minutes before landing safely in Honolulu.

Ms Kuoha said it was "scary" flying with just one propeller working, and said she prayed that they would get to their destination safely.

The company said the cause of the engine failure is under investigation and added that all passengers will receive a $400 credit in addition to a full refund for their flight.

It comes after flames were seen coming out of a plane when a bird flew into one of the engines above a beach packed with tourists.

Iolani Kuoha said the loud noise was 'like an explosion' (hawaiinewsnow.com/)

Footage filmed from the ground shows flames shooting out of the aircraft shortly after takeoff.

The incident took place on Avianca airline’s AV9377 flight from San Andrés Island to Bogotá in Colombia on April 25.

The aircraft was forced to return to the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés, situated in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Nicaragua but part of Colombia.

The Airbus A 320-214 completed a successful emergency landing after the incident.

Last month, passengers on a budget airline were horrified when they saw their jet engine explode in mid-air.

They had just taken off on an internal flight in Mexico on a twin-engined Airbus A320 when the sky-high drama unfolded on Wednesday.

The Viva Aerobus plane engine exploding (Newsflash)
The footage was uploaded onto social media (Newsflash)

Chilling footage - shot through a window by a passenger on the Viva Aerobus flight from Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara - shows the plane flying over sea.

The plane's starboard engine suddenly explodes, sending a sheet of flame backwards towards the tail. The plane is rocked by the blast as it shudders in mid-air before the footage ends.

The footage - uploaded onto social media - shows the plane's identity designation XA-VAV on the right wing.

Pilots made an emergency landing at Puerto Vallarta airport where passengers were put on a replacement flight, according to local media.

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