Canadian fighter planes forced to land at Shannon

Five Canadian Air Force fighter jets have been forced to land at Shannon Airport after experiencing technical problems while refuelling over the Atlantic.

The five F-18s were en route from Saragossa in Spain to an Air Force base in Canada and were due to refuel in mid air from a KC 130 tanker.

However, the refuelling drone on the back of the tanker failed to deploy and was unable to dock with the planes.

All five landed at Shannon shortly before 1pm for refuelling.

It is as yet unclear if they would continue their journey.

This incident comes just days after a Canadian submarine got into difficulties of the coast of Donegal, when one sailor died and two others hospitalised injured following a fire on board the vessel.