At 2:30pm today, a US Airways aircraft landed in the Thames near Rainham Marshes in Essex after suffering an engine failure shortly after takeoff. British Transport Police have released a statement regarding the plane crash in an update via Twitter, stating “flight US132 was disabled after collision with two drones 1500 metres east of London City Airport”. A birdstrike was originally reported, however British Transport Police are now investigating due to drone debris being found after an examination of the plane engines. Work by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch is now underway to recover the aircraft.
Originally reported by an unverified source on Twitter, stating simply “a plane has just landed on the Thames near Rainham Marshes”, the tweet was accompanied by an image of the aircraft in the river surrounded by passengers disembarking into life rafts. London Fire Service and London City Airport confirmed that flight US132, originally en route to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, had “planned to ditch in water” after the pilot reported an engine failure and no power to return to LCY. The aircraft landed 100 metres offshore at Purfleet RSPB Reserve, with RNLI services and Essex police arriving to assist passengers evacuating the plane onto the wings and life rafts.
All 46 passengers and 6 crew are safely ashore, with only minor injuries sustained thanks to help from London emergency services, supported by units from Essex and Kent. Passengers were taken care of at Purfleet Heritage & Military Centre, being provided with food and water and phones to contact family members. Purfleet HMC commented that they “can’t believe everyone got out alive”. The most recent update from Essex police reports “arrangements being made to get passengers home or back to London City Airport for onward journey.” One passenger was taken to Queen’s Hospital, Romford for a suspected heart attack, but is reportedly now stable and has been released, having suffered only indigestion.
One unlucky passenger, Nadine Johnson, shared a viral tweet stating that she “did not expect to be spending my birthday standing on the wing of a plane in the middle of the Thames” followed by an image of the banks of Purfleet RSPB Nature Reserve from the wing of the aircraft. She added “the pilot is a total legend for getting us down in one piece.”