An American Airlines plane caught fire as it was about to takeoff from O'Hare International Airport of  Chicago.  Authorities said, the incident prompt crew to cancel takeoff and evacuate passengers via emergency chutes. Officials said, no serious injuries were reported.

The incident was reported hours before a similar mishap in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in where the fire spark after the  landing gear of a FedEx cargo plane collapsed. Later, the company said, the FedEx pilots were safe.

According to the authorities, the American Airlines Flight 383, bound for Miami with a crew of nine and 161 passengers on board, was headed down an O'Hare runway at around 2:30 p.m. CDT (1930 GMT) after the right-side engine of the twin-engine jet caught fire.

The mishap could have been much worse, Timothy Sampey, the assistant deputy fire commissioner for airport operations, said. The plane was fully loaded with 43,000 pounds (19,504 kg) of jet fuel, when the fire crews reached the jet the fuel was leaking.

"So they had a heavy volume of fire on both the engine and the entire wing. This could have been absolutely devastating if it happened later," he said.

"Vehicles have rights to all the runways right now because an American engine burst into flame on the rollout," a pilot of one inbound plane said.

Also Read: Three friends killed in crash during trip to Milwaukee!

Nandini