Cathay Pacific aircraft with 136 passengers landed safely in Singapore on Monday after one of its engines caught fire.

Cathay Pacific said the Airbus 330, flying to Jakarta, landed back in Singapore without incident just before 2 am local time. It said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a stall warning, reports Reuters.

Twenty minutes after the plane took off, there were two sharp bangs sending cabin staff scurrying to retrieve the meals they had just begun serving, a Reuters photographer Beawiharta who was on the same plane with his family said.

Soon he heard his son panicking, Will we die?. I took his hand and told him firmly: 'No, we are going to live.'

The passengers started praying and “a stewardess told us an engine had caught fire and we were on our way back to Singapore. Glued to the window, my son said he could see lights, the sea and ships and then lights on the ground. We all grabbed life jackets from beneath our seats, but the plane landed smoothly.” Said Beawiharta.

Within five minutes, as firefighters doused the damaged engine, we walked off the plane into the terminal.

The pilot greeted the passengers for their patience and calmness.

The best that we can ever ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm ... which you did, he said.