Los Angeles-bound Air France flight from Paris makes emergency landing in Canada after engine breaks up

A Los Angeles-bound Air France flight from Paris made an emergency landing in Canada on Saturday (30 September) after one of its four engines broke down over the Atlantic.

The A380 superjumbo jetliner was carrying 496 passengers and 24 crew members.

"Flight 066 landed without further damage at the Goose Bay military airport in Canada and all of the 520 people on board were evacuated with no injuries," an Air France spokesman was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"Air France is working to re-route the passengers to Los Angeles via one of its connecting platforms in North America."

Some of the passengers were cited as saying that they felt vibrations as the plane lost altitude over the Atlantic. "We heard a big popping sound and the airplane basically dropped and it was trembling. You could definitely tell something was different and it wasn't just turbulence," Sarah Eamigh said, adding the flight shook for around 20 minutes before coming to normal pace.

Pamela Adams, who was on board, told AP: "It was like the plane hit a Jeep at 35,000 feet. We grabbed onto something and then we sat down, and the plane righted itself fairly soon."

Passengers also joked among themselves and thanked God for their second chance at life.

Several pictures and videos of the incident have been posted on social media by the passengers. The photographs showed extensive damage to the front of the outer starboard engine, with part of its external cowling stripped away.

It is not clear yet what caused the issue.