Four injured in air emergency

The flight was bound for Belfast City airport

Four people have been injured during an emergency on a flight from Birmingham to Belfast.

The crew of the Flybe aircraft, formerly British European, reported an emergency situation on Thursday after the plane had undergone a severe and unexpected movement during the flight to Belfast City Airport.

A male flight attendant suffered a broken leg when he was knocked to the ground while a female crew member sprained her ankle.

Airline passenger Alan Lowry

Another crew member suffered head injuries and all three were taken to hospital.

A passenger also suffered minor head injuries but did not need hospital treatment.

One passenger on the plane said the aircraft shuddered violently before going into a brief nose dive.

Safe landing

Alan Lowry said the pilot quickly brought it under control and circled a few times before landing at Belfast.

"We were up on the plane around about 20-25 minutes and we hit very bad turbulence," he said.

"The plane was in its cruise and the plane seemed to go up and down about 100ft just with the turbulence.

"Then all of a sudden there was a big shudder, it was as if the plane hit a wall and whenever it shuddered, the three cabin crew were all thrown to the floor and a lot of the passengers were thrown back and forward in their seats."

Belfast City Airport put its emergency plan into action but the plane landed safely and on time.

In a statement, Flybe said the BAe 146-200 aircraft was carrying 36 passengers and five crew.

It said: "The flight-deck crew immediately controlled the situation but unfortunately as a consequence of this incident, two members of cabin crew and a number of passengers incurred minor injuries."

A full investigation into the incident by the airline and the Department of Transport has been launched.

The plane will not be allowed to fly until that investigation is complete.