Another witness, Nick Lambert, told the New Zealand Herald he heard a noise from above.
“We heard a tremendous pulsating noise from one of the engines and then flames erupted. It may have hit a bird,” he said.
Passengers on the plane claim that the cause of the accident may have been a collision with a bird.
In an email to Newshub, a man claiming to have been on VA148 claimed a bird had struck the left engine.
“The captain told us that a bird had struck the left engine and the plane was bobbing up and down. [we] “We’ve just arrived in Invercargill with a number of ambulances and firefighters,” he told Newshub.
Virgin Australia’s chief operating officer, Stuart Aggs, later acknowledged that a bird strike may have caused the fire.
He added that all passengers have disembarked and there are no reports of injuries at this time.
“Emergency service personnel are on standby at Invercargill Airport,” Mr Agus said.
“Our efforts are now focused on providing support to guests and crew, and arranging transportation and accommodation for guests in Invercargill tonight and for the fastest possible crossing to Australia.”
“New Zealand has been fairly successful in avoiding birds,” the Civil Aviation Authority’s website says, noting that bird strike rates at airports are around four per 10,000 aircraft movements.
Queenstown Airport chief executive Glenn Sowry believes a large bird must have been involved in the incident.
“In this case, it appears more likely that a larger bird was ingested into the engine, which could have caused some pretty significant damage to critical parts of the engine, depending on where it passed through.”
But he told RNZ’s Morning Report that a bird strike could not be confirmed until the engine had been inspected by engineers.
He said a check of the runway was carried out minutes before the Virgin Australia flight was due to depart but no birds were found.
However, bird strikes by small birds have been reported at the airport over the past month.
“A lot of effort goes into managing the risk of bird strikes, by keeping the grass at the airport short, by making sure there are no standing water and everything else, to make it as unattractive as possible to birds,” Mr Sowry said.
Mr Sowry said it was the pilot’s decision to land in Invercargill and then turn around, but there was no reason why the plane could not have landed safely in Queenstown.
It must have been scary on board, but concerned well-wishers from afar shared their relief on social media after the plane landed safely in Invercargill.
“Glad it landed safely,” one person said, while another said they were “emotional.”
“What a blessing,” one person commented.