Plane makes emergency landing in London

London, April 16 (IANS) Flights in and out of London's second largest airport Gatwick were suspended Monday after a US-bound Airbus A330-300 plane was forced to make an emergency landing following detection of smoke in the cabin.

Virgin flight VS27 -- with 13 crew and 299 passengers on board -- had left the West Sussex airport around 10.50 a.m. and was bound for Orlando in the US when it had to return to land at 12.30 p.m., BBC reported.

Four passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation.

Liam Moore, a passenger on the aircraft, said everybody was "really shaken up".

Another passenger, Mark Bell, said the plane was "really wobbly".

"The cabin crew made things worse. They were all really panicked. We circled the airport twice before making an emergency landing. We were told to evacuate, evacuate, evacuate."

Tom Alridge said one of the cabin crew panicked upon landing.

"She was screaming like a banshee - 'Get off, get off' - she was literally pushing people down the chute," he said.

The West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it was called for a "small fire on board an aircraft". Six fire engines were called to the scene.

A Gatwick airport spokeswoman said take-offs and landings resumed at 2 p.m.

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