AMSTERDAM, Feb 22 — The Dutch Safety Board said it was investigating what had caused a Boeing 747-400 to lose parts of an engine shortly after taking off from Maastricht airport on Saturday.

The cargo plane scattered mostly small metal parts over the southern Dutch town of Meerssen on Saturday afternoon, causing damage to cars and lightly injuring one woman, local media said.

"Our investigation is still in a preliminary phase, it is too early to draw conclusions,” a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board said on Monday.

Witnesses said they saw fire in one of the engines of the plane, which landed safely at Liege airport in Belgium, some 30 kilometres south of Maastricht.

Boeing said on Sunday that it was recommending airlines halt flights of 777 airplanes, after a United Airlines plane of that type scattered debris over Denver in the United States at the weekend after its right engine failed. — Reuters