A plane departing from O'Hare International Airport to Brazil returned to Chicago about 20 minutes after leaving on Thursday night because the pilot thought a bird may have flown into the engine, officials said.

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Some witnesses reported flames shooting out of an engine, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

United Airlines Flight 843 took off at 9:37 p.m. headed for Sao Paolo, Brazil, said Jill McGee, spokeswoman for Chicago's Department of Aviation. It returned to O'Hare safely at 10:02 p.m., she said.

"The plane landed without incident," McGee said.

The plane's pilot turned off one of the Boeing 767's two engines because he believed that a bird may have flow into the engine, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.

"As a safety and precautionary measure, the pilot went back to O'Hare to have the engine examined," she said.

The flight's 165 passengers were placed at hotels overnight, Urbanski said.

The airline is investigating whether a bird was in the plane's engine, she said.