A plane carrying former President Bill Clinton stopped abruptly to have one of its engines fixed in Tanzania on Wednesday, multiple sources told CNN.
A U.S. law enforcement official confirmed the plane made an unscheduled landing after experiencing “technical problems.”
“There was an issue with one of the aircraft’s four engines. Because of the airline’s protocols, they landed and quickly repaired the engine,” said Matt McKenna, Clinton’s spokesman.
The emergency landing occurred around 9:45 a.m. ET. The issue with the plane was ultimately resolved, and took off again by 11:30 a.m. ET, according to the law enforcement official. About an hour later, it landed at the originally-scheduled destination, Dodoma (also in Tanzania).
Clinton is currently on a nine-day trip with The Clinton Foundation, his family’s philanthropic organization.
The plane was traveling from Iringa, a central Tanzanian city, to Lake Manyara in the country’s north.
The former president, along with his daughter, Chelsea, and a 20-person traveling party of donors and supporters, are in Africa for a series of visits to the foundation’s project sites. In addition to Tanzania, Clinton and the delegation will visit Kenya, Liberia and attend the CGI Middle East and Africa meeting in Morocco.
CBS News first reported Clinton’s plane’s emergency landing.
