A Ryanair flight has been diverted back to the airport it departed from after declaring a mid-air emergency. Flight RK3226, operated by a Boeing 737-800 departed Manchester Airport nearly an hour behind its scheduled departure time at 8.39am this morning.

Bound for Sandefjord Airport, Torp, in Norway, the plane was due to land at 10.24am with everything appearing to be going well for the first 40 minutes of the journey. However, while flying at 37,000 feet above the North Sea, the crew abruptly issued a Squawk 7700, the international code indicating a general emergency. The aircraft then abruptly made a sharp U-turn over the North Sea and has been diverted back to Manchester Airport.

Flight tracking data revealed that the aircraft made a sudden turn toward the UK coastline just before declaring the emergency.

As it descended back to Mancheser for a priority landing the Ryanair plane was kept a close eye on by Air Traffic Control. Flight RK3226 landed back in the UK 9.54am, here it was met by emergency vehicles.

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