A flight from the UK to the Caribbean that suffered a problem with one of its two engines over the North Atlantic, was forced to turn around and divert to Shannon Airport this evening.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS-165 departed Heathrow Airport in England at around 4.30pm bound for Montego Bay in Jamaica. There were 246 passengers and a crew of 13 on board.
The Airbus A330-941 jet was over three hours into its journey when the flight crew advised air traffic controllers in Ireland of their issue. The crew declared an emergency confirming they were operating on one engine after an issue arose with the jet’s number 2 engine.
Air traffic controllers informed airport authorities of the emergency while the National Ambulance Service (NAS), local authority fire service and Gardaí were also alerted.
A number of NAS resources as well as units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Shannon and Ennis stations were dispatched to the airport in support of the airport’s own fire and rescue service.
The Irish Coast Guard was also alerted the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat was placed on standby as a precaution.
The flight landed safely at 9.24pm on its one operating engine and was pursued along the runway by fire crews. The aircraft was later accompanied to its parking position by emergency crews who remained with the plane until all services were stood down at around 10.00pm.
It’s expected that a replacement aircraft will be dispatched from Heathrow later tonight to take the passengers onto their destination.
