An airliner was yesterday forced to divert to Bermuda after smoke was spotted coming from the rear of the plane.

The JetBlue flight bound for St Lucia with more than 200 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the island’s airport.

A spokeswoman for the Bermuda Fire & Rescue service said the Airbus A320 aircraft was carrying 202 passengers and landed safely in Bermuda at about 12.15pm.

She added: “BFRS personnel dressed in breathing apparatus carried out a thorough search of the airbus compartment with thermal imaging equipment before turning the scene over to the airline representatives.”