At approximately 2:30PM, a fallen aircraft was spotted over the river Thames, near Rainham Marshes, Essex, a low-lying marshland filled with scarce wetland wildlife. The plane landed in the river 1,500 meters from London City Airport. Within ten minutes the London Fire Service, with support from Kent and Essex, as well as the Thames River Police have called for emergency services to the site of the crash.
With the assistance of the Essex police, everyone in the flight was evacuated with lifeboats brought to shore, and an ambulance and staff gave health checks to the evacuees. Out of the 42 passengers and six crew members, two were faced with minor injuries. One passenger was sent to Queens hospital for a suspected heart attack; said passenger was soon discharged for indigestion and possible discomfort from the plane crash. According to the Purfleet Heritage Centre, all passengers were evacuated to the Centre and were provided with food, water and Wi-Fi access as well as telephones to contact and inform family members of the incident.
At 2:50PM, London City Airport released a statement identifying flight US132, which was En route to Amsterdam, but the airport lost contact with at 2:31PM. According to pilot reports, the emergency landing happened due to an engine failure, after temporarily setting fire thus disabling the fuel and engines. After further investigation this small fire may have been caused by drone debris found within the aircraft, despite previous speculations of a possible bird strike. The aircraft, of the US Airlines twin engine Airbus A360 model is planning to be recovered by the Air Incidents Investigation Branch, in addition to further investigations regarding the incident.