British Plane Make Emergency Landing Due To Sparks Engine Fire

Both runways were closed at Heathrow airport after a British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

The Airbus A319, which was carrying 75 passengers on its journey to Oslo, was forced to return to the airport moments after taking off because of a 'technical fault', British Airways has said.

Dramatic footage from the scene shows smoke billowing from the plane while it is still in the air and eyewitness have described hearing 'a blowout' and seeing one of the engines on fire as it flew overhead.
Speculation has emerged that the plane had run into a 'bird strike', although there has been no official confirmation of this.
A Heathrow spokesman said all of the passengers have been 'safely evacuated' and 'accounted for'.

The spokesman said the airport itself remained open, despite the closure of the runways following the incident at about 9am today.
Officials have ruled out a terror attack and investigators are now looking into the possibility of a bird strike shortly after take-off.
Emergency vehicles surrounded the plane and emergency chutes could be seen being deployed after it landed.
Eye witness Clive Cook, who lives on the Heathrow flight path, described seeing smoke billowing from the plane, with the right engine on fire.
He told Sky News: 'The actual engine itself was on fire.

Eyewitnesses have described hearing 'a blowout' and seeing one of the engines on fire while it was in the air

'This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically, and I could almost say it sounded as if it was like a blowout, or an explosion.
'I'm absolutely certain that as it came through the clouds, and I looked up... the right engine was on fire, it wasn't smoking, it was actually on fire.'
Mr Cook said he saw the plane over the Thames at Battersea as he was taking his daughter to nursery.
Another eyewitness, named only as Jamie, was working in his garden near to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, when he saw the plane.
He told Sky News: 'All of a sudden we heard this almighty noise. It was like a fire jet going over. We could just see the right engine on fire - it was absolutely horrendous to see.
'You don't see things like that every day, it's incredible really.

'Your thoughts are with the people - if we could hear it that badly then what were the people going through on that plane?'
He said he thought the plane was just a few thousand feet above the ground and added: 'It was below the clouds at this stage. To see an aircraft on fire - it wasn't good to watch.'
A British Airways spokesman said a 'full investigation' was to be carried out into the incident.
The spokesman said: 'The BA762, Heathrow to Oslo service, returned back to Heathrow shortly after take-off due to a technical fault.
'The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 customers.

RAW: Smoke billows out of plane coming down into Heathrow '

'The aircraft landed safely and emergency slides were deployed and we are currently caring for our customers.
'Emergency services attended the aircraft.
'We will be carrying out a full investigation into the incident.'
London Fire Brigade said a crew from Heathrow fire station had assisted Heathrow Airport’s fire service with 'an aircraft fire'.
'We believe the fire is now out,' it added.

The plane was on Heathrow’s northern runway which remained shut. Later the southern runway reopened.
Bird strikes are a serious problem for aircraft and have been known to bring planes down.
Passengers on resumed flights at Heathrow were being warned to expect delays of 30-60 minutes as well as 30 minutes of aircraft taxiing time.

British Plane Make Emergency Landing Due To Sparks Engine Fire