Lufthansa jet catches fire, splits in two

[Lite]

A Lufthansa cargo plane caught fire and split in half as it was landing Tuesday in the Saudi Arabian capital, and the German pilot and co-pilot were lightly injured, an airport official said.

Lufthansa said one of its cargo planes was involved in an accident in Riyadh, but it did not confirm there was a crash.

Riyadh airport official Fahd al-Hamoud said the pilot and co-pilot were rushed to a military hospital near the airport. The two are German nationals, he said.

"The plane was close to the airport when it caught fire," al-Hamoud said. "Its engines stopped working, then it crashed and split into two halves."

It took civil defense workers about three hours to contain the fire, he added.

Michael Goentgens, a spokesman for Lufthansa's cargo division in Germany, said the MD-11 cargo plane coming from Frankfurt had an accident while trying to land at the airport in Riyadh, but he declined to comment on the cause.

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