PARIS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Europe's aviation regulator

on Thursday linked a recent engine fire on a Cathay Pacific

Airbus A350 to a possible problem with the maintenance

of its Rolls-Royce engines.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) earlier

this month ordered airlines to carry out visual inspections on

Rolls-Royce XWB-97 engines after the incident involving a

Zurich-bound Airbus A350-1000 on Sept 2.

"In-service and in-shop inspections since then have

identified that a specific cleaning process available during

engine refurbishment may lead to fuel manifold main fuel hose

degradation", the agency said in a statement.

The announcement came after Hong Kong investigators

confirmed they had found hole in a fuel hose after leaking fuel

caught fire in one of the Rolls-Royce engines of a Cathay

Pacific Airbus A350-1000 jet, forcing it to

turn back to base. Nobody was injured in the incident.

Their initial report also said the investigation - which has

not been completed - would range from design to production,

installation and maintenance and that authorities would seek

more information from manufacturers and maintenance shops.

Responsibility for the detailed analysis lies with the Hong

Kong authority whose investigation is continuing.

In a revised bulletin, EASA widened the scope of its earlier

call for engine checks to include all models of A350 jet that

had already been through a certain number of maintenance visits.

But it downgraded the measure by dropping its revised

airworthiness directive out of the most serious "emergency"

category, suggesting it is less concerned about an immediate

safety risk.

Analysts have said the visual checks and measurements of

parts are not expected to need significant time or resources.