Sparks from engine end Tony Blair's flight from SA
The aeroplane bringing Tony Blair home from a visit to South Africa aborted take-off at the last minute after its pilot spotted problems with an engine, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.
The spokesman confirmed that sparks were seen coming from one of the plane's three engines.
The aeroplane was moving down the runway ready for take-off when the problem was spotted, but it had not reached take-off velocity.
As a result of the aborted take-off, Mr Blair had to extend his weekend visit by one day.
Mr Blair's spokesman said: "At about 11pm South African time, they were due to take off. They had started the run down the runway. They hadn't got very far when the pilot noticed something wrong with engine no.3.
"They shut down the engine, aborted take-off, and went back to the terminal.
"Being 11pm South African time, there weren't any other planes and they couldn't have arranged an alternative to get them back in time for the ID card vote. He will travel back overnight on Monday."
Asked whether it was correct that sparks were seen from the underside of the plane, the spokesman said: "I gather that was one of the symptoms of an engine not working."
He stressed that the plane had not left the ground by the time the problem was spotted: "In terms of take-off speed, they were well short of the point of take-off. In the technical jargon, this is termed a minor incident."
The spokesman said the private charter plane was carrying only the Prime Minister and his officials.