15 injured on Virgin jet that made emergency landing

In Dublin and London, passengers had a scare when their flights were suddenly interrupted. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By msnbc.com news services

Fifteen passengers were injured when a Virgin Atlantic plane made an emergency landing on Monday at London Gatwick, the capital's second-largest airport, the airport told Reuters.

In a statement earlier Monday, the airline said four passengers suffered minor injuries.

Injuries ranged from suspected fractures and cuts, as passengers escaped the aircraft using the emergency chutes.?

The incident led to the suspension of flights in and out of the airport, leading to some ?delays.?

"The captain decided as a precautionary measure to immediately evacuate the aircraft," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement, and said all passengers and crew disembarked the plane.

Gatwick Airport said on its Twitter page that the incident had forced the airport to close but that arriving and departing flights later resumed.?

"We are working hard to reduce the delays to flights following the incident earlier today. Please bear with us," according to one tweet from the airport.

Earlier, an airport spokeswoman said flights in and out of Gatwick were suspended ?because the plane was on the runway as passengers disembarked.

Flight 27 from Gatwick to Orlando, Fla., was carrying 299 passengers and 13 crew members, according to the Associated Press. The jet, an Airbus A330-300, took off at 5:48 a.m. ET and made the emergency landing about two hours later.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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