A passenger plane has been forced to land in Scotland after declaring a mid-air emergency.

The KLM Airways flight, travelling from Amsterdam to Calgary declared the emergency around half an hour into its journey.

It declared a Squawk 7700 while flying off the west coast of Scotland.

An emergency squawk is used to identify an aircraft that has a possible issue and enables it to have priority over other air traffic.

Officials at KLM have since confirmed to The Herald that the issue circulated around a "technical defect".

 

The flight made a u-turn while traveling over the Atlantic Ocean and began a rapid descent towards mainalnd Scotland.

It later arrived at Prestwick Airport shortly before 2pm.

A spokeswoman for KLM said: "Flight KL677, which left Amsterdam for Calgary at the beginning of the afternoon, landed as a precaution at Prestwick International Airport in Glasgow due to a technical defect.

"Passengers and crew were not in danger.

"The problem has now been resolved, but it is not yet clear when the plane can continue its journey to Canada."

The incident comes just two days after a TUI flight, travelling from Aberdeen to Tenerife, declared the same emergency alert around half an hour into its four-hour journey.

It had to later land at Glasgow Airport due to a cabin crew member requiring 'urgent' medical attention. 

This is a breaking story and will be updated.