Horror as ‘micro-explosions’ rip through both engines of Boeing 737 carrying 175 passengers moments after take-off

PASSENGERS on board a Russian Boeing 737 were terrified as “micro-explosions” triggered fires in both the plane’s engines.

The jet, carrying 175 people, was forced to make an emergency landing as flames started spewing from the aircraft.

Both the plane’s engines caught on fire as the plane took offeast2west

The jet was forced to make an emergency landingeast2west

It is the second day in a row Russia has been hit by horror plane blazes.

The S7 airline plane was flying from Novosibirsk – Russia’s third largest city – to capital city Moscow.

Fires in both engines erupted as the plane was on the runway taking off, passengers said.

A video filmed by a passenger shows the raging inferno at around 6.30am local time.

One passenger said: “The right engine, next to which I was sitting, caught fire while still on the runway, several flames burst out.

“We took off and it flared up once every ten to 20 seconds. 

“Then the second engine caught fire, and they flashed simultaneously.” 

The pilots immediately called for an emergency landing and brought the aircraft down safely at Novosibirsk’s Tolmachevo Airport.

There were no casualties among passengers or crew.

Emergency crews were on “high alert” for the landing which came some 20 minutes after takeoff, according to those on board. 

The captain told the passengers on landing that both engines were “out of order” and the aircraft needed to be towed from the runaway after the brakes overheated. 

A passenger told ASTRA media: “During landing, the captain said that the brakes caught fire,”  

“All passengers have already got off.”

They were bussed to the terminal and told they would have to wait eight hours for a replacement plane to fly them to Moscow.

The cause was engine surging – a “violation of gas-dynamic stability with micro-explosions”, reported the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee.

It comes just a day after a Russian cargo plane exploded minutes after taking off.

A day earlier a Tu-204 cargo aircraft suffered an engine “explosion” heard from the ground after takeoff from Ulan-Ude, also in Siberia.

Flames could be seen trailing from the stricken Tu-204 aircraft after the blast sparked an engine fire.

The jet was forced to make an emergency landing back at the airport it had departed from in Ulan-Ude.

An investigation is underway by the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office.

Russia is suffering an unprecedented spate of air incidents amid signs that Western sanctions are hampering efforts to maintain and service planes, with problems obtaining spare parts.

Since the spring of 2022, airlines have been requiring staff not to enter equipment defects in flight log books, one report said.

A former Nordwind airline pilot said many  pilots are  relying on “Russian luck.”

In the first eight months of this year, there were 120 air accidents in Russia involving civil aircraft operated by Russian airlines.

This is more than double the number in recent years despite significantly fewer flights as a result of Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The blaze was triggered by ‘micro-explosions’