The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, London

A British Airways plane crash-landed at London's Heathrow airport on Thursday, slightly injuring 19 passengers and triggering an inquiry into why the Boeing 777 flying in from Beijing landed short of the runway. Fire engines smothered the aircraft in foam after the landing at the world's busiest international airport extensively damaged its wings and ripped off its undercarriage. Aviation commentators said the fact that the plane only just cleared the perimeter fence, hit the ground well short of the runway and then slid to a halt pointed to a massive loss of power in the final stages of landing. The wheels of the plane, which had a routine maintenance check in December, were still in the field where it crashed, several hundred meters (yards) from the runway.

"I win the lottery today," Fernando Prado, one of the passengers, said after being safely evacuated by emergency chute from the wreckage. BA declined to comment on reports of a loss of power. But it praised the pilot and crew for the way they handled the crisis.