Qantas grounds A380s

Qantas airline gro-unded its Airbus A380 fleet after one of the superjumbo jets blew out an engine Thursday, shooting flames and raining large metal chunks before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard.

It was the most serious midair incident involving the double-decker A380, the world's largest and latest airliner, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney - the same route that Qantas Flight QF34 was flying when it was stricken.

Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses aboard the plane and on the ground reported blasts. Officials in Indonesia said the engine trouble could not have been related to recent volcanic eruptions of Mount Merapi, some 800 miles (1,300 kilometres) to the east.

After the plane touched down in Singapore, the engine closest to the fuselage on the left wing had visible burn marks and was missing a plate section that would have been painted with the red kangaroo logo of the airline. The upper part of the left wing also appeared damaged.

One passenger, Rosemary Hegardy, 60, of Sydney, told The Associated Press that she heard two bangs and saw yellow flames from her window.

"There were flames - yellow flames came out, and debris came off. ... You could see black things shooting through the smoke, like bits of debris," she said.

Although it was nearly 90 minutes from the time of the explosion to the plane landing, there was no panic inside the aircraft, she said.

The trouble with one of the plane's four engines happened 15 minutes after take-off from Singapore at 9:56 a.m. The plane landed after one hour and 50 minutes.

"The shutdown of the Qantas engine had no connection with Mount Merapi," said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for Indonesia's transportation ministry. "It was too far from the volcano - the sky over Singapore and Sumatra island is free of dust."

The flight is a regular service that flies between Sydney, Singapore and London. Qantas' A380s can carry up to 525 people, but Flight QF34 was carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, all of whom were evacuated by a stepladder in an operation that lasted two hours.

Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney said there was no explosion or injuries on board. The airline described the problem as an "engine issue", without elaborating.

"We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met," Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce told a news conference.

Joyce appeared to blame the engine, made by Rolls-Royce.

"This issue, an engine failure, has been one that we haven't seen before. So we are obviously taking it very seriously, because it is a significant engine failure," he said.

Rolls-Royce said it was aware of the situation, noting that the investigation was still at an early stage. Its shares were 4.5 per cent lower at £6.25 (US$10.16) in midday trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Airbus said in a statement that it was providing all necessary technical assistance to the investigation and a team of specialists from Airbus was being dispatched to Singapore.

- AP