Plane Crash at Heathrow During Foreign Secretary’s Speech

A British Airways plane crashed today at Heathrow Airport. The plane, a Boeing 737-800, came down shortly before landing, during a speech being made at the airport by Foreign Secretary William Hague. Mr Hague, speaking on the Foreign Office response to the crisis in Yemen, was whisked from the scene by car shortly after the incident.

It is believed that the crash was caused by light reflecting off Mr Hague’s head into the eyes of the pilots, however a full enquiry has been launched to ascertain the full facts of the crash. The black box from the aircraft has been recovered, as well as several childrens’ toys, and a teddy-bear with a missing leg. Rescuers described the scene in the wreckage as heart-breaking, and have called for an apology from Mr Hague. The 189 seat aircraft which was carrying a horde of British tourists back from Ibiza, crash-landed within the grounds of the airport, short of runway 1, with no severe casualties. Several of the cabin crew were taken to hospital suffering from cricked necks, and fifteen passengers were also taken to burns units, although it is believed that this was not to do with the crash.

Several of the victims stated that they intended to sue Mr Hague for trauma, and one of the cabin crew announced an intention to claim from their employer. Mr Hague is yet to make any formal comment, and has not been seen in public since the incident, however BA made the following statement five hours after the crash:

‘It is regrettable that this incident has occurred, and the victims can rest assured that a full internal investigation has been launched. Now is not the time for blame, however it is clear that blame cannot be ascribed to any of our staff, and lays squarely at the feet of the causer of this disaster’

The statement has been condemned by industry leaders as ‘unhelpful’ and as a ‘sad indictment of the world we live in’. Commenting on the disaster, the Transport Secretary stated that ‘We must think of the victims in this unfortunate time.’ Leader of the opposition, Ed Milliband said in the House of Commons that ‘The crash is a sad inevitability of Conservative policy, and is demonstrative of the broken ‘big society’ plan’. The papers have taken different approaches to the disaster, with the Mail condemning it as symptomatic of immigration and criticising it’s effect on house prices; the Guardian producing a wall chart showing other air crashes from history; and the Sun commenting that had the plane landed a few miles to the left, it may have landed safely on the cleavage of Katie Price. Mr Hague is expected to speak in the House tomorrow.