Qantas 747 makes emergency landing after 'uncontained engine failure'

An Australia-bound Qantas Boeing 747 returned to San Francisco this morning after suffering a problem with one of its engines. The San Francisco Chronicle writes the "engine failure in midair punched a hole in the external casing, an incident that one expert called 'extremely rare.' "
Such an incident is referred to as an "uncontained engine failure." The Chronicle says it occurred on Qantas Flight 74 as it "reached 30,000 feet about 45 minutes after takeoff ... ."
Following the incident, The Associated Press says the Qantas crew "shut down [the engine] on the Boeing 747 and sought priority clearance to return to San Francisco." The flight had departed for Sydney on Monday night around 11:10 p.m. PT, returning to make the emergency landing around 12:45 a.m. PT this morning, according to AP.
AP adds "there were no injuries during the emergency landing, [Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton] said, and the plane was able to pull up to the jetway at the terminal so passengers could deplane. Rushton said there was no fire, but an engine surge can often cause what appear to be flames."
"Engineers have determined the engine does need replacement, and they are checking to see what caused the problem," Rushton tells AP.
Passenger Nolan Goldstein describes the incident to the Bay Area's KTVU TV, saying: "I heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left. It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up…It was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit."
Neil Dufty, another passenger on the flight, tells KTVU that the captain came on the public address system "and assured everybody that the plane was still relatively safe. (He said) there was serious damage in one of the engines. We jettisoned some fuel and turned around. The captain made a very good landing. We all cheered."
Qantas' Rushton is quoted by CNN as saying that the airline put the affected passengers into local hotels while it worked to get them on another flight to Australia.