A London-bound British Airways Boeing 777 caught fire at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport.
The Wall Street Journal reported that an FAA spokesperson said, "the failure occurred in the left engine as the aircraft was accelerating on the runway for takeoff late on Tuesday."
Operating as flight 2276, the passenger jet stopped safely on the runway which allowed all 159 passengers and 13 crew to evacuate safely. The fire has since been extinguished.
"A small number of customers and our crew have been taken to the hospital," a spokesperson for the airline said.
Via its Twitter account, Boeing said it is aware of the incident is gathering information.
A team of investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as well as its British counterpart, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, are already en route to probe the incident, per WSJ.
Engine failure during takeoff is extremely rare but pilots and crew are trained to handle the situation, the website noted.
"If an engine fails just as the nose of a Boeing 777 is lifting or he instant the plane leaves the ground, its automated fly-by-wire systems automatically adjust thrust in the remaining good engine and manipulate controls to assist the pilot and ensure the jet remains controllable," WSJ said.
With only minor injuries reported, attention now turns to the cause of the BA 777 fire in Las Vegas.
"On the Pprune pilot chatroom, commenters have noted that the crew told the control tower the plane was stopping some time before asking for help from the local fire service," The Telegraph said.
The communication would suggest that an engine failure had occurred "which chimes in with what passengers have said they were told by the pilot."
It may take months before the true cause of the incident is revealed.
A YouTube user posted a video of multiple accounts from social media of the BA 777 fire in Las Vegas:
