UPDATE: Passengers taken to hospital after Gatwick emergency landing

A NUMBER of passengers onboard a flight forced to make an emergency landing at Gatwick have been taken major trauma centres at a London hospital.

All flights at the airport were suspended after a Virgin aircraft had to make an emergency landing this afternoon (Monday April 16).

The Virgin A330 left Gatwick at 10.48am for Orlando but returned at 12.30pm following reports of a technical issue.

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South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) sent nine double-manned crews and four hazardous area response team (HART) crews to the scene.

After passengers disembarked via the aircraft’s escape chutes crew assessed and treated passengers who had suffered injuries sustained while evacuating the plane.

Those injured have been transferred to the major trauma centres at St George’s Hospital and the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

A spokesperson for SECAmb said: “Other hospitals in the region have taken patients with minor injuries.

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“HART crews have specialist training and equipment in order to assess and treat patients in smoke-filled environments.

“In addition to the emergency ambulances sent to the airport the Trust has mobilised patient transport service (PTS) vehicles to transport those patients who were assessed as having minor injuries.

“The Trust has maintained operational resilience across its network and is responding to 999 calls as normal. No major incident has been declared by the Trust.”

A spokesperson for the airport said earlier today: “We’ve re-commenced flights so arrivals and departures are slowly resuming, there will be some knock-on delays.”

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