Portrush children on board flight diverted from Belfast to Manchester due to Storm Isha

The children from Mill Strand Integrated Primary School were returning from a week’s skiing trip in Bulgaria when their flight fell foul of the storm which battered Northern Ireland with gusts reaching 80mph.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster on Monday morning (January 22), school principal Philip Reid, who is accompanying the pupils on the trip, said: “We had just finished a fantastic week with the children in Bulgaria and everything was going smoothly up until the very moment when the pilot made the approach – or tried to make an approach – into Belfast International.

"I don’t think he was too close to the ground but certainly he turned off and we were aware of circling Belfast again for a second approach. It certainly felt like extreme turbulence and wind."

Mr Reid, who was accompanied by two other members of staff, said that at that point the adults in the Mill Strand group knew that it looked very likely that they wouldn’t be landing in Belfast last night.

He continued: "The pilot gave us an update on the conditions at Belfast International and what he was going to attempt to do but we knew that after two approaches we certainly weren’t going to be landing in Belfast. He explained everything to us and the cabin crew from Jet2 were fantastic.”

The group finally landed in Manchester around 8.30pm, despite expecting to be back home in Belfast at 6pm. They finally checked into a hotel in the city at 11pm for what Mr Reid described as a “well deserved, good night’s sleep”.

"Some of the children were excited by the experience, some were a little bit more fearful of it but as a group, with the two staff I had with me, Mr Elwood and Mrs McIntyre, they were well calmed.”

Principal Mr Reid said that Monday would be spent waiting to hear what alternative arrangements were being made by their tour company and flight operator to get the Portrush group back to Northern Ireland.

"We are just waiting to hear what will happen later today and we are watching the weather forecast because we know from last night’s experience that they won’t be taking off to try to land in Belfast unless it’s absolutely 100% safe,” he told Radio Ulster.

"Safety always comes first on every school trip, for any school going away, and it was just one of those things – we had a brilliant week and, up until the pilot made the approach to try to land, everything had gone seamlessly so all I can say is that we were handled really, really well last night.

"Everything went as smoothly as it possibly could and the main thing is that we went to bed last night knowing that the children were tucked up safely in bed,” concluded Mr Reid.