Two flights had to be diverted away from Malta after an incident at the Malta International Airport this morning, the airport said in a statement.

The MIA confirmed that an incident involving an aircraft being towed occurred at 11:29 on Friday morning.

The airport said that nobody was on board the aircraft in question at the time and that no injuries were reported.

Although the airport did not give details of the incident, TVM reported that the Ryanair aircraft, which isn’t scheduled to fly, was being parked – but rolled into a fuel bowser after it was released from its tethers.

Fuel ended up flowing out onto the apron, however the situation was controlled immediately by the airport’s rescue and firefighting team.

The aerodrome was temporarily closed and re-opened again to flight operations at 12.20 pm.

Two flights - LH1276 operated by Lufthansa from Frankfurt and UG1300 operated by Tunisair from Tunis-Carthage – were diverted to Catania and Tunis respectively.

Additionally, the airport said that some delays can be expected.

The MIA said that the incident site has been cordoned off and is being monitored by members of the Police force and the Rescue and Fire-Fighting team. The Bureau of Air Accident Investigation is also on site, the airport said.

Photo: Horizon Malta