Smoke in the cabin forces Melania Trump’s plane back to military base
Melania Trump’s plane has been forced to return to a Washington area military base because of smoke in the cabin.
A spokeswoman for the first lady said “everyone is fine and everyone is safe” after the plane returned to Joint Base Andrews.
Mrs Trump had been scheduled to visit a Philadelphia hospital and meet families of children affected by exposure to opioids while in the womb.
Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said the first lady’s team is “evaluating” whether to make other arrangements to travel to the event.
According to TV reporters travelling with Mrs Trump, the flight was in the air for about 10 minutes when smoke filled the cabin, and then Secret Service agents rushed to the front of the plane.
It is not clear yet what caused the problem.
The event was planned for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where health and human services secretary Alex Azar was to join the first lady.
The hospital has provided care to mothers with opioid use disorder and their newborn children for more than 45 years.
Mrs Trump was to tour a neonatal intensive care nursery and speak at a conference on a new system that tracks infants suffering opiate withdrawal.
The intended visit was to be part of her “Be Best” campaign, which focuses on issues affecting children, including the importance of healthy pregnancies.