Drama as plane with German national team forced into emergency landing after mid-air issues while flying over Scotland

A PLANE carrying the German national football team was forced into an emergency landing after transmitting a distress signal.

The Germans had won 4-0 in World Cup qualification in Iceland on Wednesday before departing Keflavik International Airport at 1am.

The flight then encountered difficulty while mid-air over Scotland and sent out a Code 7700 distress signal.

It is unclear what caused the emergency but the signal declares to air traffic control that a plane must land immediately due to 'urgency' or 'distress' with either the craft itself or a person onboard.

Following a sharp right-hand turn over Arbroath, the German team landed in Edinburgh and safely exited the plane.

The German FA (DFB) confirmed via Twitter: "Safety first. Safe stopover as a precaution in Edinburgh."

After a seven-hour wait, a new plane arrived in Edinburgh to collect the team and fly them home.

The charter flight KLJ2703, operated by Klasjet, was flown on a Boeing 737-522 which tracker website Flightradar24 shows carried out eight successful journeys in the past week.

A later DFB tweet added: "Our flight home has been diverted to Edinburgh in order to carry out a precautionary safety inspection on the plane.

"Everyone is fine and patiently waiting while the staff go about their business calmly and professionally. Another coffee it is then!"

The squad, which includes Premier League stars Bernd Leno, Antonio Rudiger, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Ilkay Gundogan, then flew on to Frankfurt with other stars then heading on to Munich.