A North Korean Air Koryo airplane, which was en route from Pyongyang to Beijing on Friday force-landed in China's northeastern city of Shenyang because of smoke in the aircraft, Xinhua news agency reported, citing one of the plane passengers.

Smoke appeared in the cabin about 30 minutes after the plane took off from Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, said the passenger.

Fire trucks were sent to the airport to deal with a possible fire. The aircraft was smoking when ground staff examined the plane, but no clear fire was spotted, the passenger added.

No casualties have been reported so far.

A staff member at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport told Xinhua that more investigation is needed before determining the cause of the incident.

The airplane that force-landed in Shenyang is a Russian-made Tu-204. It took off from Pyongyang at 8:30 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in Beijing in one and a half hours.

Source: MENA