Air Serbia’s Airbus 319 aircraft flying from Tivat, Montenegro to Belgrade, Serbia, was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday afternoon due to engine failure.

The plane landed soon after it took off from the Tivat airport. “It was like we had been struck by lightning,” one of the passengers told Nova.rs, adding that another passenger felt sparks under her feet and said that the plane was dumping fuel into the sea.

“We circled over the Bay of Kotor for half an hour, people on land noticed that a large amount of smoke was coming out of the plane. There were people with children among the passengers and the children started crying. In the first ten minutes the flight crew offered no explanation, which only added to the panic. Then they told us that there was an engine failure and that we had to prepare for landing at the Tivat airport. The standard procedure in such situations followed, and this additionally frightened the passengers, especially the foreigners,” the passenger said, adding that the mechanics were inspecting the plane while the passengers are awaiting new information on the flight.

Air Serbia said there was no threat to the safety of passengers.

“Today’s Air Serbia flight JU 201 from Tivat to Belgrade was returned to Tivat due to technical reasons and precautionary measures. The aircraft safely landed at the Tivat airport. Air Serbia regrets the inconvenience and is doing everything in its power to ensure that the flight continues as soon as possible. The safety of passengers was not threatened at any time,” said the company, adding that for more information passengers are kindly asked to call Air Serbia’s call center at 0800 111 528 from Serbia, at +381 11 311 21 23 from abroad, or to visit the company website airserbia.com or its pages on social networks.

“The safety of our passengers and our crew members is a top priority for Air Serbia,” said the company.