A Kenya Airways plane was Tuesday forced to an emergency turn back to Khartoum, Sudan.

The Boeing 737-700 flight was destined for Cairo, Egypt.

After making a regular stop-over in Khartoum, the plane took off only to turn back and make an emergency landing after a few minutes.

The airline said its "flight KQ320/1st January 2013 from Khartoum to Cairo made an air turn back and landed safely at the same airport at 2136hrs local time due to an engine malfunction".

 

"The Captain elected to turn back to Khartoum International Airport as a standard safety precaution. And at no time was the safety of the passengers, crew or aircraft compromised or at risk," chief executive Titus Naikuni said in a statement.

"There were 56 passengers and 7 crew members on-board. All passengers and crew on-board are safe and have been offered hotel accommodation.

"Alternative arrangements are being made to complete the travel for the affected passengers, who are now scheduled to travel today on another KQ flight; KQ320/2nd January 2013," Mr Naikuni said.

The national carrier flies to Cairo daily via Khartoum and stranded passengers will most likely be able to continue their journey to Egypt by Wednesday.

This is not the first time that a Kenya Airways flight has made an emergency return journey.

In March 2012, a KQ flight taking off from the OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg had to turn back after two hours in the air due to a cabin pressurisation malfunction.