Plane makes safe emergency landing at Ben Gurion airport after engine trouble

Wizz Air flight to Riga with 178 passengers forced to turn back to Israel, putting ambulances, firefighters, emergency crews on standby

By ToI Staff 30 July 2018, 12:51 pm
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Illustrative image of the pink and purple stripes of a Wizz Air plane. (Wizz Air)
Illustrative image of the pink and purple stripes of a Wizz Air plane. (Wizz Air)

A Wizz Air flight airplane was forced to return to Ben Gurion Airport shortly after takeoff Monday morning, reporting engine trouble.

Wizz Air flight W62542 to Riga took off at 11:36 a.m. for its scheduled four-hour flight to Latvia. However, shortly after takeoff the pilot reported engine trouble while the plane was still making its climb over the Mediterranean, and declared a general emergency.

The flight, with 178 passengers on board, turned back to Israel to make an emergency landing.

Firefighting crews and emergency personnel were on standby as the Airbus A320 made its landing safely.

The airport declared a level 2 emergency, summoning dozens of ambulances from stations in the nearby cities — Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Lod and Rehovot. Asaf Harofeh Medical Center and Tel Hashomer Hospital were put on standby.

However, the plane landed safely and there were no reports of injuries. It had been in the air for a total of 69 minutes.

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