HALIFAX – A spokesman for the Halifax airport says a United Airlines Boeing 777 airliner made an emergency landing at the Nova Scotia airport at 9:50 p.m. local time after a fire on the aircraft.

Peter Spurway, the spokesman for the Halifax Airport Authority, says the fire was in a contained area and was extinguished prior to landing.

Spurway says after the fire was put out, the pilot of United Airlines Flight 999 declared an emergency and then decided to land at the nearest available airport.

The aircraft with 233 people on board had been on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newark, N.J., to Brussels.

Spurway said the aircraft made a safe landing with firefighters from the Stanfield International Airport standing by and no injuries were reported to airport authorities.