Icelandair jet makes emergency landing in Canada after window 'shatters' in the cockpit

An Icelandair flight made an emergency landing in Canada after a cockpit window shattered during flight, a passenger said on Twitter. Photo / Getty Images

An Icelandair flight made an emergency landing in Canada after a cockpit window shattered during flight, a passenger said on Twitter.

On its website, the airline said only that Flight 688 on Saturday was diverted to Bagotville, Quebec, "due to a technical issue."

A passenger, Harrison Hove, tweeted that the "captain says his left window shattered and had to bring us down rapidly".

Update: Captain says his left window shattered and had to bring us down rapidly. We had to go down immediately. “This plane is not going anywhere.” Airport police told us we cannot deplane because there is no passport control at this airport. #icelandair #orlando Flight FI688

— Harrison Hove (@HarrisonHove) October 20, 2018

Mr Hove, a news manager at the University of Florida, said all passengers appeared to be safe.

But he added: "People were upset because it was a traumatic experience.

"We made an emergency landing and no one would tell us what happened until after we landed."

He reported that an airline employee estimated the crack to be about 20 centimetres.

The Boeing 757 aircraft was flying from Orlando, Florida, to Keflavik, Iceland, with 155 passengers and seven crew, the local Le Quotidien newspaper reported.

Bagotville, about 124 miles north of Quebec, does not normally handle international flights.

But Mr Hove said Canadian immigration officers were sent onto the plane to clear the passengers.

Icelandair said another aircraft later arrived so passengers could continue to Keflavik and then on to destinations in Europe.

The airline is the flag carrier of Iceland and serves 48 destinations in 16 countries.