Photo: Courtesy of VariFlight

A China Eastern flight bound for Hong Kong experienced technical issues and was diverted to Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province on safety concerns, and the flight landed safely on Sunday, the air carrier said on its Weibo account.

The plane was scheduled to fly from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 8:30 am to land in Hong Kong at 11:00 am, data from information provider VariFlight showed. 

One netizen named Yuanyuan told news outlet Beijing Youth Daily that she heard a loud noise on the left side of the plane, before the fuselage began to "shake violently", as if "a tractor was starting, accompanied by a strong burning smell," and the shaking was strong enough to lead her to spill her coffee. 

The passenger recalled that she was sitting in the middle right range of the cabin and heard a passenger sitting on the left side of the window shout "the engine is broken." Soon, a notification was broadcast in the cabin, saying that there was a malfunction, before announcing that the plane would be diverted to Xiamen.

The passenger said that that everyone was wearing seat belts. The violent tremors lasted for about 10 minutes, before the plane successfully touched down at the airport. "It took about 20 minutes from the start of plane malfunction to its landing, and the tremors were not so obvious during the final 10 minutes before landing," she recalled. 

China Eastern said it is arranging new connections for the passengers, and that the company deeply apologizes for the inconvenience caused. 

Global Times