American Air jet makes emergency Caracas landing

CARACAS, Jan 26 (Reuters) An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Caracas today after an electrical fire during a flight from Miami to Brazil, an official at the Venezuelan National Institute of Civil Aviation said.

None of the 245 passengers on board the Boeing 777 was injured, said American Airlines spokesman John Hotard.

The passengers are being flown back to Miami, where they will board another plane that will take them to Sao Paolo, the flight's destination.

''All things considered, it was faster to get them back to Miami and then down,'' said Hotard, citing regulations that place limits on flight crews' working hours.

The diversion to Caracas was likely caused by an electrical short in the captain's audio panel, said Hotard. The plane will later return to Miami.

American Airlines, the world's largest airline, is a unit of AMR Corp..

REUTERS PDS RN0019