The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed to Chris Lynch Media bird strike forced a Qantas international flight to divert to Christchurch Airport after taking off from Queenstown on Saturday.

Qantas flight QF122 was travelling from Queenstown to Sydney when the incident occurred shortly after takeoff.

A CAA spokesperson told chrislynchmedia.com the aircraft subsequently diverted to Christchurch, where it landed safely.

“The CAA is aware of an incident involving Qantas flight QF122. The flight departed Queenstown Airport bound for Sydney and experienced a bird strike shortly after takeoff.

“The aircraft subsequently diverted to Christchurch and has landed safely.”

Video sent to chrislynchmedia.com shows the Qantas aircraft over Queenstown, with resident Luke Pace saying “fireballs” were coming from one of its engines.

Pace told chrislynchmedia.com, “We heard a few consecutive loud explosions and looked out the window to see the Qantas plane blowing fireballs from one of the engines, coinciding with each bang.”

Pace said he heard about four or five explosions before the aircraft appeared to steady after about a minute.

A full emergency response was sent to Christchurch Airport ahead of the aircraft’s arrival, including multiple Fire and Emergency crews and five ambulances.

A St John spokesperson said St John was notified at 4.25pm of the flight diversion.

“Multiple ambulance resources have responded to Christchurch Airport as a standard procedure.”

Chris Lynch Media understands 158 people were on board.

A Qantas spokesperson said, “Our pilots are highly trained to manage situations like this and the aircraft landed safely.”

“We know this would have been a distressing experience for passengers and will be contacting all customers to provide support.”

Qantas said affected passengers would be provided with accommodation and rebooked on other flights.

The CAA said questions relating to the flight and its passengers should be directed to Qantas.