Fire on board North Korean passenger jet forces it to make emergency landing in China

A North Korean passenger aircraft travelling from Pyongyang to Beijing made an emergency landing in the northeastern city of Shenyang on Friday morning after smoke appeared in the cabin, ­Xinhua reported.

The plane belonging to Air Koryo, North Korea’s state-owned and only airline, landed safely at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport, the report said.

There were no reports of injuries among the aircraft’s passengers and crew.

Air Koryo Flight 151 contacted air traffic controllers at the airport at 8.35am to report that smoke had been detected inside the aircraft, the airport reported on its ­official microblog. The aircraft landed 15 minutes later, the airport said.

Authorities at the airport were carrying out repairs and investigating the cause of the fire, it said.