A jet carrying 152 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing at London's Stansted Airport after part of an engine casing fell off during take-off.

Stansted airport was put on full emergency alert after the Airtours Airbus A320 reported possible rudder damage shortly after leaving Gatwick Airport.

The decision was taken to land the jet at Stansted, which has facilities to deal with major disasters, and the pilot made an announcement to the passengers.

Airport officials said the Airtours jet had taken off from Gatwick on route to Almeria, in southern Spain, when the incident occurred.

No one was hurt, and all passengers were transferred onto a second plane which left from Stansted.

A spokesman for Stansted Airport said: "Part of the engine cowling (casing) fell off during take-off and fell onto the runway at Gatwick."

She said the plane took off from Gatwick airport, to the south of London, at around 0655 GMT.

The aircraft was diverted to Stansted where emergency services were put on standby.

"The aircraft landed safely at Stansted and there was nothing untoward," she said.