RAF grounds Voyager planes after aircraft plummets several thousand feet en route to Afghanistan

The Ministry of Defence said it is investigating the 'in-flight issue'

The Airbus 330 had 190 people on board when the incident took place on Sunday (PA)

The RAF has grounded its fleet of military-registered Voyager planes after one plummeted "several thousand feet" during a flight to Afghanistan.

The Airbus 330 is believed to have dropped sharply for unknown reasons on Sunday, leaving some of its 180 passengers and 10 crew members with minor injuries.

The crew levelled the plane out, and it was diverted to an airfield in Turkey. Affected passengers are being brought back to the UK on another aircraft.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed that it had been decided to "temporarily pause" flying of the aircraft Voyager while a full investigation into what could have caused the sudden drop in altitude is completed.

The Voyager, which was provided to the RAF under a £10.5 billion private finance initiative with the AirTanker consortium, has a dual role as an air-to-air tanker and transport aircraft, replacing the long-serving VC10 and TriStar planes.

The spokesman said: "MoD can confirm that a Voyager aircraft suffered an in-flight issue on 9 February and as a precaution diverted to an airfield in Turkey.

"A few passengers received minor injuries during the incident.

"The safety of all our air crews and passengers is our paramount concern, therefore it has been decided to temporarily pause military-registered Voyager flying while a full investigation is completed."

The RAF has civil-registered Voyagers, which fly to the Falklands and other places, and military-registered ones which fly to Afghanistan.

The military-registered planes have been grounded as a precaution while investigations are carried out, but the civil aircraft will continue to fly.

It is thought that the incident could result in delays to some personnel flying to and from Afghanistan. Alternative travel arrangements are being put in place.

Additional reporting by Press Association