A Delta Airlines flight headed to Minneapolis made an emergency return landing Sunday morning at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after one of the jet engines apparently broke apart, raining pieces over Port Everglades.

All 140 passengers were bused back to the gate while the aircraft was inspected by airport and fire rescue officials, airport spokesman Greg Meyer said in a statement.

There were no reports of injuries, either aboard the flight or on the ground.

Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office were on the scene shortly before 8:30 a.m. near the I-595 entrance to Port Everglades, recovering several small pieces of what appear to be parts of the engine, Meyer said.

Later Sunday morning, Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright confirmed that a sheriff’s deputy working at the McIntosh Road checkpoint at Port Everglades recovered two “quarter-sized” pieces of metal on the roadway. The deputy working at the checkpoint reportedly heard what sounded like an explosion and heard the pieces of metal come down as the jet was taking off toward the east, Coleman-Wright said.

Delta’s flight 1846 is a daily departure for Minneapolis that is scheduled to take off at 7:30 a.m. The engine failure occurred around 7:45 a.m., Meyer said.

The passengers were all rebooked on other flights, according to Delta, Meyer said in a statement.

A spokesman for Atlanta-based Delta Airlines could not immediately be reached.

(Source: Miami Herald)