US flight makes emergency landing in Los Angeles

A US Southwest Airlines flight bound for Tennessee state's capital Nashville with 147 persons on-board made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after a tyre burst.

Southwest Airlines Flight 2364, which took off from LAX in the Los Angeles area, landed on an airport runway shortly after its departure because the plane blew one of its four main tyres on Monday night, according to LAX Public Information Officer Nancy Castles.

The plane circled Santa Catalina Island which is located about 35 km from Los Angeles, before making the emergency landing around 7.15 p.m, Xinhua news agency reported.

"When it landed, it stopped on the runway and they had some issues with losing hydraulic fluid as well," Castles said.

The runway was closed for about an hour to allow airport personnel to clean up the debris and Southwest Airlines to tow the plane to its maintenance location, according to LAX.

All the passengers and crew members on board deplaned safely and were bused to another terminal. No other delays were caused by the temporary runway closure.

Southwest Airlines, a major US airline established in 1967, is one of the world's largest low-cost carriers.

--IANS

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