Emergency services called to Heathrow Airport as two planes collide

Emergency services have attended an incident at Heathrow Airport after two planes collided into each other.

Passengers looked on as a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 hit a British Airways Airbus A350 whilst reversing from its gate on Saturday (April 6th).

The British Airways plane had just landed from the Ghanaian capital Accra as was stationed at Terminal 3's Gate 25, due for another flight back to the city at 12:40p.m.

The accident cause minor damage to both planes as the Virgin Atlantic plane reversed into the Airbus, that had been guided by airport staff.

After starting its departure from the gate, the aircraft's winglets hit the tail of the neighbouring BA jet, causing the collision.

Services working at the airport attended the scene on the tarmac as a precautionary measure to inspect the damage to the planes following the incident.

At least five fire engines were called to the scene to inspect the damage in case of any leaks to the fuselage and the fuel tanks, which could have led to a potential fire.

As well as this, airport security was on hand to cordon off the scene to allow emergency services to carry out their work.

Following the collision, the departure for the British Airways flight has been delayed until 6:30p.m. according to the latest information from Heathrow's scheduled departures.

A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: "We are aware that the wingtip of one of our empty aircraft came into contact with another aircraft whilst being towed from the stand at London Heathrow Terminal 3.

"The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority. We can confirm no customers were on board the Virgin Atlantic aircraft during this time."

The spokesperson added that a full investigation into the incident is now underway and engineers are now performing a maintenance check on the plane to ensure it is safe to fly in the future.

Additionally, a spokesperson for British Airways said: "One of our aircraft, whilst stationary at Heathrow earlier today, was involved in a collision with another airline's jet, which was being towed from a stand at the time.

"Our aircraft is being assessed by our engineering teams and we have provided an alternative aircraft to limit the impact on our customers."

Greatest Hits Radio has approached Heathrow Airport for comment.

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