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Fire forces plane to make emergency landing

A Thomas Cook aircraft travelling from Cancun, Mexico to Manchester in the UK, declared an emergency at 8.20pm and diverted to Bermuda.

Emergency personnel rushed to LF Wade International Airport last night after reports of a fire in the passenger cabin on a flight with 338 passengers on board.The Thomas Cook Airline A330 aircraft was travelling from Cancun, Mexico to Manchester in the UK, when the pilot declared an emergency at 8.20pm and diverted to Bermuda.Passengers exiting the aircraft told The Royal Gazette that smoke started coming out of an in-flight entertainment unit. Shortly afterwards the crew informed passengers that the plane would make an emergency landing in Bermuda.Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service spokesman, Lt Jay Donawa said the flight touched down at 9.01pm.“The flight landed safely without incident and taxied up to ‘apron one’ where the passengers were evacuated using two doors. No injuries were reported and there was no fire on board when the aircraft landed,” he said.He added that 12 vehicles with 35 personnel responded from King VII Memorial, Police and the Fire Service. The passengers were still being triaged by medical personnel at 10.30pm.Police spokesman Robin Simmons confirmed the aircraft would remain at the airport overnight. Taxis were last night lining up to take the hundreds of predominantly British passengers, to hotels before plans are made tomorrow.One passenger Alison McAllister, from Cumbria in northern England, said: “Smoke started coming out of one of the entertainment systems. The smoke had a really strong smell.“The crew ran to where the smoke was coming from. Everyone stayed pretty calm.“I don’t think most people realised what was happening until the crew announced we’d be making an emergency landing.”Vicky Young, on holiday with her husband Graham, also from Cumbria, said: “It was an electric fault which caused some smoke. Nobody was panicking.”Mick Horne, from Doncaster, said: “The smoke was coming from an entertainment centre two rows behind me. There was a strong burning smell, but it was nothing dramatic.”Having spent two pleasant weeks in Cancun, he felt an extra night of vacation in Bermuda was not such a bad thing. “I’d be happy to stay a week,” he said.Police said last night the aircraft would be mechanically assessed today before continuing on its journey some time this afternoon.