Airline grounds Airbuses after jet blow-out

It was the most serious mid-air incident involving the double-decker A380, the world's largest and latest plane, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney – the same route that Qantas flight QF34 was flying when the incident occurred.

Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses on board the plane and on the ground reported blasts.

Officials in Indonesia insisted the engine trouble could not have been related to recent volcanic eruptions of Mount Merapi, some 800 miles 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 to be damaged.

Residents on the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, helped authorities pick up more than 100 pieces of debris from the plane which had scattered in 15 locations.

The pieces of torn metal, which were mostly small but there were some the size of doors, were brought to police headquarters for an investigation.

The trouble with one of the plane's four engines occurred 15 minutes after take-off from Singapore this morning. The plane landed after one hour and 50 minutes.

The flight is a regular service that flies between Sydney, Singapore and London.

The Qantas A380s can carry up We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met 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 were no injuries and there was no explosion 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 CEO Alan Joyce told a news conference.

Mr 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.

Singapore Airlines later said in a statement it would be "delaying all flights operating our A380 aircraft" after Rolls-Royce and Airbus advised it to conduct precautionary technical checks.

Experts said the problem appeared to be an "uncontained engine failure", which occurs when turbine debris punctures the engine casing and the light cowling that covers the unit.

Aviation expert Tom Ballantyne said the incident was "certainly the most serious incident that the A380 has experienced since it entered operations".

But "it's not like the aircraft is going to drop out of the sky", Mr Ballantyne, Sydney-based chief correspondent at Orient Aviation Magazine, said.

He said the engine shutdown couldn't have caused a crash. The planes are designed to fly on just two engines, and the pilots are trained to handle engine failures.

Rolls-Royce said it was aware of the situation, noting that the investigation was still at an early stage. Its shares fell on the London market in light of the incident.

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

A380s fly on with other carriers

Other airlines will continue to fly their fleets of distinctive double-deck Airbus A380s despite the Qantas aircraft's emergency.

It is expected that aircraft operators will continue flights until more technical information becomes available.

Although Qantas has a blemish free safety record for its jet engined passenger aircraft, the A380's history has not been without incident since the model was introduced in 2007.

Previous incidents include the crew reporting a sensor indicating low oil pressure in one engine on a flight to Frankfurt, where the aircraft touched down safely.

In September a flight from Paris was forced to return to the city as a result of apparent engine problems.