Emergency services were put on full alert at Southend Airport today after they were told a plane was coming in to land with an engine on fire.
But the incident turned out to be a false alarm after it emerged that a warning light on the single propeller aircraft came on minutes before it landed.
The alert went out just before 8am as the aircraft, carrying three people, alerted airport authorities that the warning light had come on.
Essex fire service sent nine fire engines from Southend, Rochford, Leigh and Hadleigh to the runway. But the plane landed safely and the alert was called off at 8.15am.
The private eight-seater single-engine Piper Malibu had taken off from an airfield near Foulmere in Cambridgeshire and was on its way to France but developed engine trouble and requested to land at Southend.
The aircraft returned later in the morning to Cambridgeshire.
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