/ 17 January 2008

BA plane makes emergency landing in London

A British Airways (BA) plane on a flight from China made an emergency landing at London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday and three people were slightly hurt in an incident police said had no link to terrorism.

”We can confirm that BA Flight 38 arriving from Beijing made an emergency landing. Passengers have been evacuated,” an airport spokesperson added.

”The south runway is closed but the north runway is still operating,” the spokesperson added. The plane was carrying 136 passengers.

The ambulance service said that three people were slightly injured.

Fire engines rushed to the plane, spraying it with foam. The passengers were evacuated by emergency chutes. One of the wings was badly damaged.

British Airways said they had no comment to offer on why the plane came down.

A spokesperson for police headquarters at London’s Scotland Yard said: ”There is nothing to suggest it is terror-related.”

Eyewitness Steve Bell said the wheels were not down on landing. They made a ”grating noise”.

”It turned about 90 degrees on landing. Its wheels were not down. Within minutes fire crews arrived and evacuated all the passengers,” Bell told BBC News.

Among the planes delayed was the flight being taken by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on an official trip to India and China.

The pilot on board Brown’s plane announced that an aircraft had been involved in a ”fairly significant incident on landing”.

The pilot of Brown’s plane said no planes were being allowed to take off or land.– Reuters