Ethiopian passenger airplane makes emergency landing

An Ethiopian airplane with 182 people on board asked to land at Malta International Airport early yesterday morning after one of its two engines developed a fault.

The Boeing 757 landed safely at 4.30 a.m. but the fault was not deemed to be very serious, an airport spokesman said.

The aircraft was on a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome Fiumicino, carrying 175 passengers and seven crew, when it declared an emergency and diverted to Malta.

The Health Department was immediately informed and an emergency plan was put in place.

Two ambulances were sent on site and all the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital as well as those at the four main health centres and at St Vincent De Paul were prepared to handle any possible injuries. Fortunately, their services were not needed.

Work was carried out on the plane throughout the day but by the time of going to print it was not yet ready for take-off.

Meanwhile, a Virgin Atlantic flight en route to Chicago from London Heathrow yesterday made a precautionary landing at Shannon Airport in southern Ireland.

However, an airline spokesman said reports of a suspected fire in the plane's cockpit were wrong.

The last emergency landing in Malta was of a Lufthansa aircraft last October. But inspections later showed that a fire alert may have resulted from a malfunctioning smoke detector.