Air France flight AF393 returns safely to Beijing after an issue with the air conditioning system causes an explosion.
The Beijing Daily reported that “an explosion was heard at the back of the cabin and black smoke was emitted” inside the aircraft. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” the local newspaper wrote.
“The noise was due to overpressure in the pipe,” an Air France spokesman said, adding that “there was no fire”.
The French airline said the passengers would be flown to Paris later in the day on another being flown in from Seoul.
According to the Air France spokesman: “The crews are regularly trained for this type of situation” and the incident is one of the “scenarios envisaged”.
“Maintenance work will be carried out on the aircraft concerned before it is returned to service,” the carrier added.
The flight was initially expected to arrive in Paris at 7.45am local time, Saturday morning.