Dry ice causes airline drama

There are no reported injuries on the plane

A passenger jet was forced to land at Newcastle Airport after a crew member mistook plumes of dry ice vapour for smoke.

The Easyjet Boeing 737 flight from Glasgow to Amsterdam landed after being diverted to Tyneside following reports of a fire on board.

Nine fire appliances and eight ambulances were put on alert to deal with the incident on Tuesday.

However, a spokesman for Easyjet says it now appears the "smoke" was just dry ice, which is used to chill airline food.

He said: "A member of the cabin crew saw what looked like smoke coming from a bin and informed the pilot.

"It transpired that what they saw was caused by dry ice containers used to keep food cold.

'Precautionary measure'

"The crew member took the right action, and this was a reasonable precaution.

"A fire extinguisher was discharged into the bin, and the bin bag was then taken away by firefighters after the flight landed at Newcastle."

The spokesman said the craft had 134 passengers and four crew members on board.

The Easyjet spokesman said fire officers from Newcastle Airport and Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade boarded the plane while passengers remained in their seats.

Unscheduled landing

A spokesman for Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade said the aircraft landed at 0819 BST.

The flight, number EZY 0868, had left Glasgow Airport at 0700 BST bound for Amsterdam.

It was due to arrive in Holland at 0930 BST but Newcastle Airport was alerted to a problem on board by air traffic controllers shortly after 0800 BST.

The dry ice incident happened in the galley area at the rear of the craft.

Another Easyjet plane arrived at Newcastle Airport at 1100 BST and was due to take off with the passengers bound for Amsterdam at midday on Tuesday.