Irish tourists stranded as flights are turned back

Limerick journalist Niamh McCarthy expected to be starting a dream holiday

in San Francisco today - instead she is stranded in London, awaiting a

flight out.

Her Virgin Atlantic flight from London to San Francisco was turned back to

Heathrow along with about 140 planes yesterday as news broke of the

devastating crashes in New York's World Trade Centre.

"We were about four and a half hours into the flight when the pilot informed

us over the intercom that we would have to turn back. He said there had been

terrorist activity in the United States and that US airspace was closed,"

said Niamh from London.

"He said all aircraft had been told to turn back."

Niamh's flight was just approaching Canada on the regular London - San

Francisco flight path when it was forced back.

"The crew didn't tell us anything. I think they either didn't know

themselves or weren't allowed to say anything so that we wouldn't be

panicked.

"No one was allowed to make any calls from the plane, even though lots of

people wanted to alert friends in San Francisco not to come to the airport

there. None of us had any idea what had actually happened. We thought maybe

a plane or two had been hijacked in the United States."

Having circled Heathrow for about half an hour, Niamh and her friend Maria

were greeted by chaos on the ground.

"Once we landed, ground crew came onto the plane and briefed the pilot. He

then told us that four aircraft had been lost - that two had crashed into

the World Trade Centre, one into the Pentagon and one outside Pittsburgh.

"We went into complete shock. There were a lot of Americans on the plane and

they just burst into tears. They were worried about friends and relatives

living in New York and Washington.

"I couldn't believe what had happened until we got to Maria's sister's house

that night and saw the footage on television."

Passengers on the flight were offered full refunds or seats on replacement flights.

In Heathrow, airport personnel were trying to deal with the massive influx of passengers from returning flights and were making every effort to get them out of the airport as quickly as possible, said Niamh.

"Before I left Ireland, I read on my travel insurance form that the policy didn't

cover acts of terrorism or war - but I never thought I'd run into a

situation where I'd need insurance for that," said Niamh, who is a journalist with Thomas Crosbie Media.

Maria's husband Ken, who is awaiting the arrival of the two in San

Francisco, told them everyone around him was "in a state of shock".