Qantas flight makes emergency landing after bird hits engine

A QANTAS Boeing 747 had to turn back to Johannesburg after one of its engines suffered a bird strike, the airline said today, the latest in a string of incidents to beset the Australian carrier.

Qantas said the plane's number two engine shut down with turbine damage after sucking in a bird shortly after takeoff, forcing an emergency landing.

The incident occurred late yesterday when QF64, with 171 passengers on board, was travelling from Johannesburg to Sydney.

"The aircraft is being worked on by engineers," a Qantas spokesman said.

"It's just a bit of damage to some of the turbine blades, it's not a huge thing.

"The flight crew followed procedure for the scenario and returned to Johannesburg."

The passengers have been given hotel accommodation overnight and the airline will try to get them on flights as soon as possible, he said.

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