A Cathay Pacific jumbo jet bound for Paris was forced to return to Hong Kong early Monday following an engine failure shortly after take off, a spokesman for the Hong Kong flag carrier said.

The Boeing 747-400, which left Hong Kong around midnight Sunday, was carrying 348 passengers.

"Around 15 or 20 minutes after it was airborne, the pilot discovered a number three engine failure, so he decided to head back to Hong Kong," Cathay spokesman Thomas Lau told AFP.

"It landed in Hong Kong at around 1.15am (1715 GMT Sunday)," he said, adding that all passengers were put on a replacement plane later and there were no injuries.

Lau said the airline was investigating the incident.

In December, a Cathay flight from London to Hong Kong was forced to make an emergency landing in Moscow after smoke was detected in the cockpit.

Earlier that month, one of its aircraft had to abort a take-off at Shanghai after smoke was detected in the cabin in an incident that left nine people injured.