Qatari jetliner makes emergency landing in Iran due to engine glitch

A jetliner operated by the state-owned Qatari national flag carrier, Qatar Airways, has made successful emergency landing in Tehran after facing a technical problem and losing an engine.

Director General of the Imam Khomeini International Airport Morteza Dehghan said on Thursday that the aircraft, with 158 passengers onboard, touched down at the airport at around 10 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Wednesday, after which all passengers and crew members were safely disembarked.

The Qatar Airways flight was en route from Doha to the Croatian capital, Zagreb, and reported the engine problem to Iranian airport authorities, said Dehghan, who identified the aircraft as an Airbus A321.

He noted that emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, were on hand for the landing.

Dehghan stated that Qatar Airways dispatched another plane a few hours later to pick up the passengers.

The Airbus A321 is a stretched derivative of the standard A320. The maiden flight of the first of two prototypes came on March 11, 1993, and the aircraft entered service in 1994.