Jet misses London runway, six hurt  

A British Airways jet crash landed short of the runway at London Heathrow on Thursday, injuring six people and causing delays at the world's busiest airport.

The undercarriage of the Boeing 777 was wrecked with the back end and the engines touching the ground. Passengers poured out of emergency slides while firefighters sprayed safety foam around the jet. One said he felt he had won the "lottery" by escaping unharmed.

Television pictures showed skidmarks carving up the grass ahead of the runway used by Flight BA38 from Beijing with 136 passengers and 16 crew on board. All the injuries were reported as minor.

Paul Venter, a passenger on the flight, said the plane hit problems just as it was about to land.

"I could hear the undercarriage come out and the next moment the plane just dropped," he said.

"The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far.

"When everything came to a standstill, I looked out of the window and the undercarriage was gone and the plane was on its belly.

"I didn't speak to the pilot, but I saw him, and he looked very pale."

BBC television quoted the pilot as saying he had lost all power as it was landing and had to glide it in.

The incident happened shortly before Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to take off from Heathrow for China on an official visit. His flight was briefly held up.

The southern runway was closed at Heathrow, causing delays. Some flights were being to other airports.

Another passenger, Fernando Prado, told BBC television by telephone that all the passengers had been evacuated within two or three minutes, adding of his escape: "I won the lottery today."

A Heathrow spokesman said the plane carried out an emergency landing at 12:42 pm (1242 GMT) and that it had been fully evacuated.

"The Heathrow southern runway has been closed, but the northern runway remains open," he added.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We are very proud of the way our crew safely evacuated all 136 passengers on board.

"The crew are very experienced and are trained to deal with circumstances like this."

He said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch would probe what happened and the airline would cooperate fully.

"It would be innapropriate for me to speculate as to the likely cause of this incident," Walsh added.

He said the aircraft in question was about six years old and BA had 43 Boeing 777s in operation.

Six passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries, said a spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service.

A London police spokesman said there was no suggestion that terrorism was involved.

The British prime minister was travelling with a party of around 30 journalists, businessmen and personalities, including Virgin chief Richard Branson and Olympic athlete Kelly Holmes.