Elderly woman and cars hit by falling debris as turbines fall from engine of Boeing 747 freighter

The incident happened within hours of a similar incident in Colorado.
The incident happened within hours of a similar incident in Colorado. Photo credit: Twitter/meraklihavaci

Authorities in the Netherlands are investigating an incident involving a Boeing 747 freighter in which parts of the aircraft's engines fell to the ground, injuring a woman and damaging cars parked on the side of the road.

The incident happened just hours after a United Airlines Boeing 777 had to make an emergency landing in the US after an engine exploded just after take-off.

On Saturday (local time) the Longtail Aviation 747-400 was operating a cargo flight from Maastricht in the Netherlands to New York when its number one engine suffered serious damage, resulting in parts of its turbine blades falling onto the town of Meerssen below.

An elderly woman was hit by one of the turbines and was taken to hospital with moderate injuries. The crew onboard issued a mayday call before dumping fuel and diverted to Liege in Belgium where they made a safe landing.

Authorities in Meerssen have told members of the public to keep an eye out for any engine parts and to leave them in place if found.

The Dutch Onderzoeksraad (Dutch Safety Board) has begun an investigation into the incident.

Just last week, Boeing issued a technical bulletin effectively reminding pilots to pay attention while in the cockpit.