Hundreds of London-bound passengers were stranded in Cape Town after a passenger door was ripped off a British Airways jet heading for London.
The Boeing 777 had just disembarked all on board the London to Cape Town 6000-mile flight when the incident happened on Wednesday morning.
Airport ground crews tried to tow the £240m aircraft off the arrival stand to a parking area during routine towing but they had forgotten to unsecure the left-hand exit door.
The door was completely torn out of the fuselage and left hanging off its hinges on the airport’s passenger bridge.
No customers or crew were onboard at the time and there were no injuries.
The Boeing, which carries 300 passengers, was due to return to the UK at 8.50pm on Wednesday but the flight home had to be cancelled.
Hundreds of mainly British tourists returning to Heathrow were transferred to the later BA58.
It took off two hours late for the 12-hour flight back home and they have now arrived at London Heathrow.
A BA spokesman said: ”We have apologised to our customers for the slight delay to their departure from Cape Town due to an issue with the original aircraft.
“Our customers continued safely on their way to London on an alternative service.”
The 21-year-old plane, which is part of the BA fleet, is a twin engine jet and flies at 590mph and recently replaced retired Jumbo 747’s on the route.
