American Airlines flight AA109 turns back over mystery illness

An American Airlines plane on its way from London to Los Angeles has been forced to turn back after passengers and crew were struck down with a mysterious illness.

Flight AA109 was close to Keflavik, in south-west Iceland, when it was diverted back to Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon.

One flight attendant apparently fainted and the plane was met by ambulances and fire crews when it landed, reported the Evening Standard.

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A spokesman for American Airlines told the newspaper that the plane had turned back because of a "medical emergency" and the diversion was not security related.

"We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience to their travel plans," he said.

London Ambulance Service confirmed it had attended an "incident" at the airport and had checked six patients who were feeling unwell. No one had to go to hospital.

One passenger, Lee Gunn, told the Daily Mirror: "About two and a half hours into the flight, just as we were passing Iceland, we had a tannoy announcement asking for any doctors, nurses or medical professionals on board to report to the boarding doors to assist with unwell passengers.

"The lights then came on in the cabin and there was lots of commotion.

"I'm a bit of a plane geek myself so thought, 'Here we go, Reykjavik here we come' but it was announced about 20 minutes after we were going to divert back to [Heathrow]."

He added that seven crew members and "many" passengers had fallen ill in total.

The diversion might have been caused by the air quality being "compromised somehow", aviation expert and pilot Bruce Rodger told the Daily Mail. Food poisoning was unlikely as the incident had happened in the early stages of the flight, he added.

One passenger also told the newspaper that the air was checked when they landed and their luggage inspected.