Brazilian jet lands safely after door falls off

RIO DE JANEIRO - A jet owned by leading Brazilian airline TAM landed safely today after one of its doors fell off and crashed to earth next to a supermarket shortly after departure from Sao Paulo.

No one was hurt in the incident, a TAM spokeswoman said. The Fokker 100 plane with 79 people aboard en route to Rio de Janeiro returned to the airport safely 18 minutes after taking off.

TAM has been replacing its Fokker planes since the Dutch aircraft maker went bankrupt 10 years ago. It still has 22, but expects to gradually eliminate all of them by 2010.

The same type of plane, also operated by TAM, caused one of Brazil's worst air disasters in 1996. It crashed in an urban area shortly after taking off from Sao Paulo, killing about 100 people, including some on the ground.

In 1997, an explosion of undetermined origin killed a passenger who was blown out of a TAM Fokker 100 during flight. In 2001 an engine breakup on a TAM Fokker 100 caused two cabin windows to shatter and one of 82 passengers aboard died as a result of the depressurisation.

- REUTERS