El Al airplane (file)
El Al airplane (file)Flash 90

An emergency situation was declared at Ben Gurion International Airport on Saturday night, after an El Al plane suffered an engine malfunction, forcing it to conduct an emergency landing with only one engine and 194 passengers on board.

Rami Nir, Head of Ground Operations for the Israel Airports Authority, told Arutz Sheva that at 2:15 a.m. on Saturday night "after the El Al flight from Ben Gurion to Toronto departed, the control tower was informed of a technical malfunction on the plane."

"The pilot, according to protocol, requested to return to land at Ben Gurion," added Nir, noting that rescue teams and staff from his department rushed to the scene. "The plane landed safely, all the passengers disembarked and were transferred to the terminal to be taken care of by El Al. I'd like to note that throughout the whole process the passengers were not in any danger."

The emergency situation occurred roughly half-an-hour after the LY209 flight to Toronto took off from Ben Gurion, with flight crew notifying the control tower that one of its two engines had shut off due to some technical mishap.

Roughly half-an-hour after that point, the plane was able to safely touch down with only one engine, and the international airport returned to its routine operations.

"Around half-an-hour after takeoff a return to land in Ben Gurion was declared due to the shutting off of one of the engines," said El Al in a statement. "The plane landed safely and the malfunction is currently being investigated."

"The passengers will be looked after by members of the El Al station at Ben Gurion. El Al views its flight security with the utmost importance and does not make compromises on the issue, whether in serious or minor matters," added the company.