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Virgin passenger jet forced to emergency land due to 'technical fault' between Heathrow and New York

 

Heather Saul
Sunday 18 August 2013 11:08 BST
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Passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight were left stranded in Canadian airport overnight after the plane carrying them was forced to make an emergency landing.

250 passengers and crew members are understood to have spent the night at Gander Airport in Newfoundland.

Flight VS25 left London Heathrow airport to travel to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport when a "technical fault" occurred, the Mail Online has reported.

The flight landed in Gander Airport and a replacement aircraft was sent to transport everyone to their final destination.

A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic told MailOnline: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that the VS25 departing London Heathrow on August 17 for New York JFK diverted to Gander due to a technical fault.

"All passengers and crew remained at Gander overnight on August 17 and a replacement aircraft will take them to their destination today.

"The safety and welfare of passengers and crew is Virgin Atlantic's top priority. The airline would like to thank passengers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

"We have engineers en route to the aircraft to investigate the nature of the issue."

The airline also issued an apology on their Twitter account after being unable to secure hotel rooms near to the airport. "Unfortunately, hotels in the local area are full - and despite our best efforts we've been unable to get any for customers or staff. Apologies for this."

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