London-bound plane plunges 32,000ft in emergency descent

Passengers were reportedly left terrified when a Gulf Air plane plummeted 32,000ft in a few minutes after experiencing a technical problem.

The flight, from Bahrain to London, was carrying 89 people when it was forced to make an emergency descent.

See also: Passenger plane hits wild boars and careers off runway

See also: Qatar Airways plane abandons 100mph takeoff

The MailOnline reports that the aircraft travelled from its 40,000ft altitude at around 1.55pm on Sunday and stopped descending when it reached 8,000ft at 2.03pm.


Oxygen masks were deployed and the flight landed safely at Heathrow around 40 minutes after the incident.

According to the Evening Standard, the airline said in a statement: "Gulf Air can confirm that flight GF003, an Airbus 330, flying from Bahrain to London on 13 December, experienced technical issues that resulted in the airline's experienced cockpit crew successfully executing an emergency descent and safely landing at Heathrow International.

"The aircraft, carrying 89 passengers, landed without incident and all passengers disembarked safely.

"The safety, protection and comfort of our passengers and employees are of utmost importance and Gulf Air crew are trained to handle such incidents as evidenced by the level of professionalism shown by both the pilots & cabin crew as well as all of our teams on the ground."

Gulf Air is the principal flag carrier of Bahrain.