Czech president's plane grounded

Czech President Vaclav Klaus was on a state visit to Portugal

A plane carrying Czech President Vaclav Klaus was forced to turn back to Lisbon airport shortly after take-off.

Czech defence ministry spokesman Miroslav Sindelar said the plane had to return to the airport because of landing gear problems.

The Challenger CL-601 landed without incident and no injuries were reported.

The CTK news agency reported that President Klaus, who had been on a state visit to Portugal, said he had never felt in danger.

Mr Sindelar said the Czech army was sending another plane from its fleet to Portugal to bring the president home.

Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski died in a plane crash in February en route to an international conference in Bosnia.