Plane debris falls on Denver suburbs during fiery emergency landing

Pieces of an airplane in backyards in Broomfield, a Denver suburb

Debris from a US passenger jet fell onto Denver suburbs during an emergency landing on Saturday, with one very large piece narrowly missing a home.

The United Airlines flight was bound for Honolulu when it suffered a right engine failure shortly after take off from Denver International Airport. 

Large pieces of debris could be seen falling from the sky in Broomfield, a suburb north of Denver, before the aircraft was able to return safely to the airport.

Remarkably, nobody aboard or on the ground was reported injured, Broomfield Police Department said.

Photos posted by the police department showed large, circular pieces of debris from the Boeing 777-200 leaning against a house in the suburb about 25 miles north of Denver.

Officials are investigating how the malfunction occurred

No other details were immediately available from authorities.

Tyler Thal, who lives in the area, told the Associated Press that he was out for a walk with his family when he noticed a large commercial plane flying unusually low and took out his phone to film it.

"While I was looking at it, I saw an explosion and then the cloud of smoke and some debris falling from it. It was just like a speck in the sky and as I’m watching that, I’m telling my family what I just saw and then we heard the explosion," he said.

Residents were started by the debris falling from the sky

"The plane just kind of continued on and we didn’t see it after that."

Mr Thal was relieved to learn later that the plane had made a safe landing.

The FAA said it and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate United Flight 328.