London: The Virgin Atlantic flight, heading to New York turned back to London Heathrow Airport after a “laser beam incident”, shortly before 8pm. The flight was turned back soon after it passed over the west coast of Ireland, according to the flight tracking website Flight Radar .
The pilot said.“We have a medical issue with one of the pilots after a laser incident after take off and we are going to return to Heathrow.”
Metropolitan Police tweeted: “Aircraft forced to return to Heathrow after being hit by a laser strike… #laserstrike CAD4.”
There were 252 passengers and 15 crew on board.All the passengers were landed safely and the airline was now working with the authorities to identify the source of the laser.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said. “The VS025 travelling from London Heathrow to New York JFK flight has returned to Heathrow as a precautionary
measure due to a laser beam incident,” she added. “The safety of our crew and customers is our top priority and
we apologise for any inconvenience to those onboard. All customers will be offered overnight accommodation and we
will get them on their journey as soon as possible.”
A message on the airline’s flight status website added.”Following this incident the first officer reported feeling unwell. The decision was taken by both pilots to return to Heathrow rather than continue the transatlantic crossing.”