LONDON – Two planes collided while taxiing on a runway at London's Heathrow Airport Monday night, fire and rescue officials said. There were no injuries.
"It was a minor collision in between two planes who just clipped each other," a London fire brigade spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with the brigade's policy. "There was no fire, no injuries, no damage."
One of the planes involved was a British Airways Boeing 747, a spokesman for the airline said, adding that an investigation had been launched. British Broadcasting Corp. television identified the second plane as a Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A340.
"Engineers are inspecting the aircraft to ascertain the damage," the British Airways spokesman said. "The passengers have been offloaded and returned to the terminal building. We do not have any more precise details of the collision while it is being investigated."
The spokesman, who did not give his name, said the passengers were safe in a terminal building at the airport.
BAA PLC, which manages Heathrow, confirmed an "incident" involving two aircraft, but offered no further comment.
The fire brigade disputed an earlier Sky News television report stating that one of the plane's engines had fallen off, insisting there had been no damage.
Sky, citing a witness, said the collision caused chaos among panicked passengers. The television station reported that some 40 fire engines arrived at the scene, but the fire brigade said the engines left the runway after about 15 minutes.
London's ambulance service said it was called to the airport at about 10:20 p.m. local time (2120GMT) but was recalled after about 10 minutes.
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