Air Madagascar jet's engine fails, but lands safely

ANTANANARIVO, July 10 (Reuters) A long-haul Air Madagascar flight carrying about 200 people had to make an emergency landing after its right engine failed moments after taking off, the airline said today.

No one was hurt in the incident involving a Boeing 767-300 jet which was bound from the capital Antananarivo to Paris late on Saturday night, the company said.

''Three minutes after takeoff of flight MD050 on Saturday 8th July, the technical team noticed a problem affecting the right engine of the aircraft,'' the airline said in a statement.

It adding that the pilot succeeded in turning the plane around and flying it safely back to Antananarivo on the remaining engine.

State-owned Air Madagascar said the pilot had to jettison some of the plane's fuel so as not to exceed the safe weight limit to fly on one engine. All 181 passengers and 12 crew were safe, it said.

Since its inception in 1962, the airline has had two serious air disasters, both on domestic flights.

In 1967, a Douglas DC-4-1009 plane crashed near Antananarivo, killing 42 people; in 1981, a Twin Otter crashed in the northeast, killing 19.

Reuters KD DB2057