Airplane's dramatic landing

The South East Coast Ambulance Service tonight confirmed that fifteen people were transferred to hospital with various injuries after a plane made an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport.

The Virgin Atlantic aircraft had been forty minutes into a flight heading for Florida in the USA, when the pilot decided to turn back because of a technical issue on Monday lunchtime. This is what Steve Ridgeway the airline's Chief Executive had to say:

Specialist response teams were despatched to the runway on the aeroplane's arrival at Gatwick's North Terminal, including ambulances and patient transport service vehicles. There were three hundred passengers and crew on board. The aeroplane's emergency chutes were deployed for the evacuation. Paramedics and clinicians assessed and treated patients with injuries acquired while they were leaving the plane.

On Monday evening the South East Coast Ambulance Service confirmed what had happened during their part of the emergency response.