An international flight of American Airlines leaving the Ezeiza international airport of Buenos Aires for New York on Wednesday night had to return and made an emergency landing due to a technical failure, an airlines spokesman said on Thursday.

The spokesman said that it was a Boeing 767 with 200 passengers aboard. After two hours of flying on Wednesday night, "the pilot detected a failure at the defrosters" so "he declared an emergency and returned to Ezeiza," the spokesman noted.

Before making the emergency landing, the plane had to flight over De la Plata River to finish the fuel. American Airlines' commercial manager Hector Parodi said that the emergency happened to Flight AA956, adding that the anti-ice system is crucial to flight safety as this model of aircraft usually flies at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters.

The plane took off at 8:39 p.m. and landed safely at 11:17 p.m. local time, the spokesman said.

He added that all foreign passengers aboard were well accommodated in Buenos Aires, and the flight was rescheduled for Thursday night.

Source:Xinhua