Jetstar fire forces emergency landing

HAGATNA, Guam, June 11 (UPI) -- A Jetstar flight en route from Japan to Australia made an emergency landing in Guam Thursday when fire broke out in the cockpit, officials said.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said a pilot extinguished the fire before the A330 Airbus landed safely with its 190 passengers and 13 crew members.

Australian investigators were on their way to Guam to examine the aircraft, which is the same model as the Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic last week while on a flight from Brazil to France.

Neville McMartin of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told the broadcaster the investigation will include reviewing to see if there have been similar incidents involving the Airbus A330.

"We are treating this as a serious incident and that's why we have dispatched four investigators to Guam," McMartin said. "We are certainly aware of the events in the Atlantic Ocean and should we become aware of any safety issues that are critical to flight we will notify the appropriate authorities immediately."

Jetstar Chief Executive Bruce Buchanan said the cockpit fire would be investigated thoroughly.

"The aircraft is maintained by Qantas engineering and the latest engineering check was done on May 6 and as far as we can see this particular part hasn't been touched since it was actually fitted from the manufacturer," he said.

"So we will be doing a full investigation to see what has actually occurred but at this particular stage it's a bit too early to comment on what the causes are."