BERLIN: Two German air force jets were deployed late Saturday to escort and help a Korean plane land in Stuttgart after it lost contact with air traffic controllers.
#KE917, Seoul-Zurich, diverted to Stuttgart after squawking 7600 (communications failure).
📼 https://t.co/H1y3JpN4q5 pic.twitter.com/t9z8NmF8jI— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 15, 2017
The Korean Air plane with around 200 people was flying from Seoul to Zurich when communication with controllers in southwest Germany broke down.
@flightradar24 #KE917 was just intercepted over #Stuttgart and is on ground at @STR_Flughafen now. Two massive sonic booms! pic.twitter.com/RXPOMb5noh— Jochen Schniepp (@jochenschniepp) July 15, 2017
The fighters were sent and escorted the plane to Stuttgart without incident, an airport spokeswoman told German news agency DPA.
Passengers had to spend the night on camp beds in the terminal before being driven to Zurich in buses early Sunday.
emergency landing#KE917#koreanair#Stuttgart #airportstuttgart pic.twitter.com/OpR5rldn40— Andreas Mergl (@Andreas_Stgt) July 15, 2017
Saturday's interception was the second in two days for the German air force. On Friday, two pilots were sent to help an Egyptian plane but the communications problems were fixed before the fighters arrived.