The flight was forced to divert and made an emergency landing at Goose Bay Airport, on Canada’s east coast.
The explosion caused “serious damage to one of the four engines,” according to the airline, and the fan, outer casing and front part of the engine were lost.
There were no obvious signs of external fire, but the remaining part of the outermost right-side engine was stained with a brown substance.
Passengers onboard the flight reported hearing a loud bang.
Passenger Sarah Eamigh said: “We heard a loud pop and we had a quick descent along with some vibrations. It definitely was not turbulence so we know something was wrong.”
The captain managed to stabilise the airplane, but Miss Eamigh said that passengers remained nervous as vibrations continued for between five to eight minutes.
Responding to the event, the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said in a statement on Thursday that the lost engine parts had been tracked to a remote region of Greeland, described as “a wasteland covered with ice”, located around 93 miles southeast of the city of Paamiut.
An Air Greenland helicopter has since flown over the region and confirmed the presence of engine parts.
The BEA statement read: “The BEA is in contact with its Danish counterpart to organise the recovery of these parts. “
“The analysis of the data contained in the flight recorders will continue at the BEA laboratory. The engine computers will also be analysed by the component manufacturer in the United States.”
Two aircrafts have since been sent to the Canadian airport to rescue the 497 stranded passengers, and take them on to their final destination of Los Angeles.