The SAS flight SK596 travelling from Reykjavik was supposed to have landed at Copenhagen Airport at 3.35pm on Monday. However, the airport temporarily closed in the afternoon due to strong winds caused by 'Storm Urd' and the plane was redirected to Malmö Airport in Sweden.
“The crew was supposed to land there to refuel and then fly onwards to Copenhagen,” SAS spokesperson Karin Nymann told regional Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten.
But when the plane was descending towards Malmö Airport it was struck by lightning.
“We were just some hundred metres from the runway when the pilot hit the gas again because it was too windy,” passenger Jonas Johansson told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
“When we were on our way up again there was a flash of lightning and people screamed.”
He told the newspaper he smelled smoke and burning. The crew announced that they were going to land at Bornholm island instead, but said there was nothing wrong with the aircraft itself.
“The plane was hit by lightning and it is procedure to land at the closest airport,” Nymann told Danish news agency Ritzau.
The plane, carrying some 100 people, landed safely at around 4pm. The passengers stayed in hotels in Rønne, Bornholm, overnight and were set to fly back to Copenhagen at 10.30am on Tuesday.
SAS said it would send technicians to Bornholm to examine the aircraft before it takes off again. They were to be flown to the island and the passengers would be flown back on that plane, said the airline.
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