US military plane forced to land in Shannon

A US military aircraft has made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport this afternoon after the pilot was forced to shut down one of the planes four engines.

The C130 Hercules transport plane was en route from a US Air Force base in Europe to another American base in Newfoundland, Canada, when the pilot contacted Shannon Air Traffic Control to notify them of the problem.

The pilot was given permission to make an emergency landing at Shannon. However, the aircraft had to dump thousands of litres of fuel before doing so.

Fire and ambulance crews from Limerick, Shannon Town and Ennis rushed to the scene as backup to the airport's own emergency service.

However, the aircraft touched down safely shortly after 1pm.

There were 20 American military personnel on board the aircraft, which is now being inspected by engineers.