PHOTO: Plane Catches Fire At Chicago Airport

An American Airlines plane has caught fire on the runway of Chicago's O'Hare airport while taking off. The Boeing 767 bound for Miami experienced an "uncontained engine failure", officials involved in the investigation said.

The pilot aborted the take-off and evacuated everyone on board via emergency chutes as black smoke billowed from the plane. Twenty people suffered minor injuries.

Nine crew members and 161 passengers were on board.

A federal official said the plane appeared to have suffered a rare and serious type of engine failure in which parts break off and are spewed outside the engine.

Investigators are now looking into the cause(s).