BA plane makes emergency landing at Heathrow after fire

British Airways said on Friday a plane travelling from London to Oslo was forced to make an emergency landing after a fault in one of the engines.
Video footage on Sky News showed the plane at London's Heathrow's airport with smoke billowing out of its right engine.

"It's right engine was on fire. This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically. I'd almost say it was like a blowout or an explosion," witness Clive Cook told Sky News.

Both the airport's runways were closed for a period but the southern runway has now reopened. The northern runway remains closed.

British Airways said the flight had turned back shortly after leaving for the Norwegian capital, Oslo, "due to a technical fault."

The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 passengers, the airline said. They were evacuated from the plane using emergency slides.

"All passengers & crew have been safely evacuated from an aircraft which is on the northern runway," the official Heathrow Twitter feed said.

London Fire Brigade said a crew was helping the airport fire service put out an aircraft fire. "We believe the fire is now out," it said via Twitter.

 

Source: Reuters & CNN