TEHRAN, June 19 (Xinhuanet) -- A US DC-10 passenger plane, after an emergency landing in Tehran early Sunday, took off at 11: 00 a.m.(6:30 GMT), an airport official told Xinhua.

    The aircraft, flying from Bombay, India, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with 255 aboard, asked for an emergency landing at about 04:00 a.m. (2330 GMT Saturday), Reza Jafarzadeh, manager of Public Relations of Mehrabad Airport said.

    Jafarzadeh denied a previous report that the emergency landing was caused by technical problems with the cargo bay of the aircraft.

    "The captain reported that a part of the cargo bay caught fire.It was not a serious case and could be under control soon,"Jafarzadeh said.

    "However, in view of the fact that all passengers are sleeping and unconscious of the accident, the captain decided to make an emergency landing in order to avoid panic among the passengers and to make a thorough examination," the official added.  

    Jafarzadeh said that the airport immediately permitted the landing.

    "In fact, upon the landing, the fire had been extinguished and there was no injury. Then they just examined the aircraft while the passengers took a rest during the stay here," he said.  

    Jafarzadeh refused to reveal background of the captain,stressing that it was just a usually precautious choice.  

    The emergency landing took place just one day after the ninth Iranian presidential election was announced to head for a run-off vote on June 24. Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and conservative Tehran Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad will stand in thefinal race.

    Iran and the United States have traded hostility for more than 26 year since the outbreak of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979,when 52 people in then US Embassy in Tehran were taken hostage for444 days.

    The two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1980 and have been slamming each other since then.

    Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorists, labeling Tehran as part of "axis of evils."  

    Iran, in return, accuses the United States of seeking to controland exploit the Middle East, terming it as enemy of the Islamic world.  Enditem