DHAKA: An American Airlines plane has caught fire on the runway of Chicago’s O’Hare airport while taking off.

The Boeing 767 bound for Miami experienced an “uncontained engine failure”, officials involved in the investigation said.

The pilot aborted the take-off and evacuated everyone on board via emergency chutes as black smoke billowed from the plane, reports the BBC.

Twenty people suffered minor injuries, the fire department said.

Nine crew members and 161 passengers were on board.

A federal official quoted by the Associated Press news agency said the plane appeared to have suffered a rare and serious type of engine failure in which parts break off and are spewed outside the engine.

Passengers reported an explosion followed by flames and black smoke as the plane was speeding down the runway.

Sarah Ahmed said everyone on the right side of the plane rushed from their seats and moved to the left side.

The incident took place at 02:35pm local time (19:35 GMT).

An initial statement by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane had burst a tire, but that information was later deleted from the statement.

American Airlines said passengers who still wanted to travel had been put on another flight to Miami.

Elsewhere, a FedEx plane caught fire at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airport after its landing gear collapsed on landing, the FAA said.

BDST: 1902 HRS, OCT 29, 2016
NJ/BD