What happened
On March 23, 2013, at 18:06 UTC, a Boeing B747-4H6, registration 9M-MPM, was involved in an engine start incident at Jeddah Airport (JED) in Saudi Arabia. The aircraft was operating a scheduled passenger flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Following pushback, the crew attempted to start the number 4 engine. During this process, a loud explosion occurred accompanied by a large flame. In response to the fire, fire bottles were discharged. There were 317 persons on board the aircraft, and there were no injuries reported.
The investigation
An inspection of the aircraft following the event revealed moderate thermal damage located on the jackscrew fairing and the trailing edge of the right wing outboard flap.