London: A Los Angeles-bound American Airlines flight which took off from Heathrow airport was forced to return a few hours later after a mystery illness struck most of the crew members and some passengers.
When Flight AA109 was airborne on Wednesday near Keflavik in Iceland, flight attendants were seen collapsing in the aisles, sparking fears about contamination in the air conditioning.
One passenger told the 'Daily Mirror' - "About 2.5 hours into the flight just as we were passing Iceland we had a tannoy announcement asking for any doctors, nurses or medical professionals on board to report to the boarding doors to assist with unwell passengers.
"The lights then came on in the cabin and there was lots of commotion. It was also reported that seven of the crew - 13 on board in total I believe - had fallen ill, along with 'many passengers'."
The flight landed at Heathrow airport on Thursday evening, five hours after it had left. Passengers were not allowed to disembark while the plane was surrounded by police cars, ambulances and fire crews.
American Airlines confirmed the plane turned round due to a "medical emergency". A statement said "American Airlines Flight AA 109, a Boeing 777-300, operating to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from London Heathrow, is returning to Heathrow due to a medical emergency. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience to their travel plans".
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