Metro

2 hours of terror on Newark jet after plane’s engine catches fire

A fire broke out in the left engine of a jetliner moments after taking off from Newark Airport, horrifying passengers and people on the ground who saw the shooting flames.

“When the plane took off, it was shaking so much,” said Yaser Haj who was aboard the Boeing 757, United Flight 96, bound for Berlin. “We smelt it. We saw fire from the back.”

Haj, 47, said about 10 minutes after its 5:50 p.m. takeoff the pilot came over the loudspeaker and announced that debris had gone into the engine.

“They said they have to burn some fuel to land,” said Haj.

The plane circled in the sky for two nerve-wracking hours.

“We heard, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!,” said Suzanne Finelli, who lives near the airport. “Everytime there was a bang there were flames coming out. The plane looked so low, I thought it was going to fall out of the sky.”

The plane, with 173 people aboard, landed safely at around 8:05 p.m.

United was helping passengers get on other flights last night, but some were too shook up to tempt fate a second time.

“I cancelled the flight. I don’t want to fly anymore,” said Haj.