Flights in and out of Gatwick Airport were suspended after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing after smoke was reported in the cabin.
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| The plane returned to the runway at Gatwick after leaving the airport |
Virgin flight VS27 had left the West Sussex airport at 10:48 BST and was bound for Orlando in the US when it had to return to land at 12:30 BST.
Four passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation.
The airport said flights were "slowly resuming" but warned passengers of knock-on delays.
Liam Moore, a passenger on the Airbus A330-300 aircraft, which had 13 crew and 299 passengers on board, said everybody was "really shaken up".
"We were on the plane and everything seemed fine," he said.
"Then the pilot came on the tannoy about 10 minutes into the flight and said we would have to do an emergency landing.
"It all happened so quickly. We landed and suddenly all the doors flung open and the emergency slides were inflated.
"We then had to slide down the chutes, some people got cuts and grazes from the slide.
"Police cars were flying up the runway. There were four fire engines, paramedics, a helicopter."
Another passenger, Mark Bell, from Bracknell, said: "I knew something was wrong when we took off.
"The plane was really wobbly. The cabin crew made things worse. They were all really panicked.
"We weren't told anything other than we had to go back to Gatwick and make an emergency landing.
"We circled the airport twice before making an emergency landing. We were told to evacuate, evacuate, evacuate."
Tom Alridge said one of the cabin crew panicked upon landing.
"She was screaming like a banshee - 'Get off, get off' - she was literally pushing people down the chute," he said.
"Someone has a broken ankle, another guy hit his head when he went down the chute, others have cuts and bruises."
West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to reports of a "small fire on board an aircraft".
A spokeswoman said six fire appliances were called to the scene.
A Gatwick Airport spokeswoman said the plane made a "safe emergency landing" and take-offs and landings had resumed at about 14:00 BST.
!There will be some delays for a time," she said.
A statement from Virgin Atlantic said the cause of the incident was under investigation.
It said: "Due to a technical problem on board the aircraft, the captain decided as a precautionary measure to immediately evacuate the aircraft.
"Our teams at Gatwick are now looking after our passengers and assisting with their immediate requirements."
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