Investigation continues after the Thames Plane crash that occurred earlier today, where drone debris was found in the engine of Flight US132 from London City Airport.
A planeful of passengers found themselves not in Amsterdam where they were headed, but in the River Thames – near the Rainham Marshes. The Airport lost contact with the flight at 2:31pm when it was forced to make an abrupt landing in the middle of the River. Help was called from the Kent and Essex emergency services as well as the RNLI, who provided life rafts for evacuating passengers who were waiting on the plane wings – some for over two hours.
The burning question on the British Transport Police’s lips still remains – who flew this drone, and why was it so close to the engine of a plane? A mere 1500 metres away from London City Airport, the pieces of debris first made contact with the plane, causing it to go down. Initially thought to be birdstrike, later investigations found that not one, but two drones were involved in the collision, although the perpetrators are not yet to be discovered. Any witness accounts or suspects are encouraged to report to the Transport Police.
First reports of the crash came from Twitter, with a mixture of civilians, official pages and watchdog accounts commentating on the events. @thamestweets was the first to report at 2:30pm followed by the official London Fire Service account ten minutes later, affirming that help was on its way: ‘All emergency service attending plane crash on Thames near Rainham’.
Others were making light of the situation, with Nadine Johnson saying that her birthday was spent in the middle fo a River on the wing of a plane, adding that ‘The pilot is a total legend for getting us down in one piece’. Arrangements are currently underway to either direct the plane passengers back to the airport to continue the journey to Amsterdam, or go back home to recover from the event.
Thankfully nobody was injured. Only one was taken to hospital on suspicion of a heart attack, and Queen’s Hospital in Romford later confirmed this to be indigestion. Whilst investigations are still underway, members of the public are encouraged to report any suspicious behaviour or drone sightings around the airport.