Pilot lands jet after bird strike

Flames were seen coming from the damaged engine

A passenger aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing when two birds were sucked into one of its engines.

The Thomson Fly Boeing 757 had just left Manchester Airport en route to Lanzarote when the herons were sucked into the starboard engine.

The pilot shut the engine down and sent out a distress call before dumping excess fuel and landing back at the airport.

None of the 221 passengers was injured in the incident on Sunday.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said the engine did not catch fire but the flames were caused by burning of the birds.

"Within minutes of being in the air, the plane suffered a double bird strike," he said.

The incident happened just after 0915 BST as the jet was on its way to Arrecife.

"The aircraft's engines are designed to cope with bird strikes but because this case involved two very large birds being sucked in at once there were problems," the spokesman said.

The passengers were able to catch another flight at about 1300 BST.