Heathrow: Plane 'declares emergency' in mid-air after taking off from London airport

A holiday jet declared an 'emergency' after taking off from Heathrow Airport on Thursday (November 24). Flight SQ317, operated by Singapore Air, travelling from the London airport to Singapore was diverted to Germany.

According to Radar Box, a flight tracking website, the flight declared an emergency while in the sky and headed off course towards Frankfurt am Main Airport.

In a tweet, SingaporeAir confirmed: "SQ317 diverted to Frankfurt after take-off due to a technical issue. The aircraft landed uneventfully at Frankfurt Airport at around 1400hrs (local time). Arrangements are currently being made to assist all customers. We apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Passengers were reportedly told to leave the aircraft due to a technical issue that can't be fixed. One person, whose girlfriend is on the plane, relayed her message to Twitter: "Flight being abandoned. Problems more serious than thought - technical can't fix. Disembarking to a hotel. No idea what next. All other flights very busy so limited rebooking available at this time."

Kimberley Chatfield and her husband were supposed to be travelling to Phuket today via Singapore for their honeymoon. Speaking to MyLondon, Kimberley said: "We've offboarded now as the engineering issue requires a part that they don't have. They told us that they've already arranged hotels for tonight for the entire flight, which is really impressive, and they will keep us updated in the coming hours.

"Cabin crew have been fantastic, handing out snacks and drinks while we waited. Its not ideal, as my husband and I are headed to Phuket for our honeymoon! But we would rather get there safely than quickly."

Our live coverage of this incident is now over.

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