The British Airways plane in last week’s dramatic emergency at Heathrow landed after pilots shut down one engine and the other engine was on fire, according to an official American accident investigation team.

Engine cowls, or coverings, on both the US-made engines of the Oslo-bound Airbus A319 came off and fell on the runway as the plane took off for Oslo last Friday morning, said the US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB went on: “The pilots subsequently reported that one engine was shut down and the other engine was on fire.”

With passengers on board and witnesses on the ground seeing smoke billowing from the stricken plane, the aircraft landed safely and the 75 passengers and crew were evacuated via emergency chutes.

The drama closed both runways for a while and although both reopened there were flight cancellations and delays for those heading off for the bank holiday weekend.

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