Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A plane carrying first lady Melania Trump filled with smoke Wednesday before it was forced the return to the Washington, D.C., area, officials said.
The first lady, staff and reporters were headed to Philadelphia when those on board saw a thin layer of haze and smelled burning about 10 minutes after it left Joint Base Andrews in the Washington, D.C., area.
Members of the press were given wet towels to hold over their faces as the plane returned to Andrews Air Force Base
"Everyone is fine and everyone is safe," Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump's press officer, said after the plane landed.
The 20-year-old Boeing VC-35A -- the military version of a Boeing 757 -- took off again a short time later and arrived in Philadelphia. The cause of the problem was not identified.
Melania Trump was traveling to an event at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar planned to meet with families affected by neonatal abstinence syndrome, caused by a baby's withdrawal from drugs to which it was exposed while in the womb.
The first lady delivered an address later at the hospital.
