A plane carrying the German football team declared a mid-air emergency over Scotland this morning and was forced to land at Edinburgh airport.
The team were heading back to Frankfurt following their 4-0 win over Iceland in Reykjavik on Wednesday night September 8. According to reports, the aircraft got into difficulty at 29,000ft about three miles west of Arbroath on the east coast and turned sharply west. It took 20 minutes to then land in the Scottish capital.
However, the official Twitter account for the national team confirmed that “as a precaution, there has been a safe stopover in Edinburgh.”
They have since added that “we are fine. Safety check on the machine is now running”.
It is unclear what the issue was with Klasjet flight KLJ2703 with radar images showing an emergency change of direction, making an abrupt turn between Dundee and Arbroath before rapidly descending. The plane, a Boeing 737, was said to be ‘squawking 7700’ – meaning its transponder was reporting the craft had an emergency.