Passengers evacuated from an Air Busan plane that was engulfed in flames this week at a South Korean airport will have their checked baggage returned to them, after authorities on Friday deemed the jet safe for a full investigation.

South Korean officials are launching an investigation into the cause of the fire that engulfed an Air Busan passenger plane while awaiting takeoff at Busan's Gimhae International Airport, with some eyewitness accounts leading to speculation that a portable power bank may have caused the blaze.

A passenger plane has caught fire before takeoff at an airport in South Korea, but all 176 people on board have been safely evacuated.