Stars stranded at London airport after plane drama

Singer Rita Ora was among the stars who were left stranded at London's Heathrow Airport just hours before a performance at a music festival after an emergency landing closed the runways and forced the cancellation of many short-haul flights.

The singer was one of the artists attempting to fly from the British capital to Northern Ireland to take part in the Radio One Big Weekend music festival in Derry this weekend (24-26May13).

However, Ora was left facing a race against time to make it to the city for her Friday night (24May13) performance after her flight was cancelled, and she described the scene at Heathrow as a "Radio 1 reunion" as numerous artists and DJs were left stranded.

Speaking from the airport, she tells BBC Radio One's Newsbeat show, "It's a bit sad actually because when a festival doesn't go to plan it's annoying. All I know is the acts aren't giving up so that's a good sign... Fingers crossed. I think Radio One (bosses) will figure it out. You can't stop a show."

Other stars believed to have been caught up in the travel chaos include rappers Wiley and J. Cole, who are both due on stage on Friday night, and singer Jessie Ware.

Wiley addressed the problems in a post on his Twitter.com page, writing, "Heathrow is closed... Loads of famous people in the airport. Let me get an autograph please."

U.K. TV presenter Jameela Jamil was among those stranded, and she revealed many of the famous travellers were turning to other modes of transport to get to Northern Ireland. She writes on Twitter, "I've been trapped with Rita Ora, AlunaGeorge, Angel Haze, Rudimental, J Cole, Jessie Ware and all of Radio 1... We should just jam (perform) and stream it to Derry. The whole line up is in the airport. Sorry Big Weekend. We're doing trains planes + automobiles... 7 hours in Heathrow and counting."

The Friday festival line-up is also due to feature Calvin Harris and Dizzee Rascal, who is believed to have avoided the travel chaos as he published a picture of himself boarding a private jet.

Flights out of Heathrow were cancelled after an airliner was forced to make an emergency landing due to technical problems. The story hit headlines as smoke was seen billowing from one of the engines while the plane flew over London.