08/06/2009

Lightning Strikes Aer Lingus Flight

Aer Lingus has confirmed one of its flights was struck by lightning during take-off on Monday morning.

A spokesman for the airline said the aircraft immediately returned to Dublin Airport, which he said was standard procedure.

The Airbus A320 was on its way to Heathrow when the strike occurred at around 11.30am. The spokesman added all passengers were accommodated on subsequent flights and that the plane was checked to see if it suffered any damage in the incident.

Last week Aer Lingus confirmed two members of its staff were among those lost as a result of the Air France AF 447 going down over the Atlantic, which is suspected to have suffered electrical faults possibly contributed by a lightning strike.

A total of 17 bodies have so far been recovered from Atlantic waters off the coast of Brazil.

Brazilian military ships are continuing their search through debris of the Air France jet, which vanished last week.

France is leading the investigation into the cause and will try to recover the plane's black box data and voice recorders, which could reveal why the jet crashed. Brazilian officials are focusing solely on the recovery of victims and plane wreckage.

(DW/JM)


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