London (CNN) Flights from London's Heathrow Airport were temporarily suspended on Tuesday evening following a drone sighting.

In a statement, a Heathrow Airport spokesperson said the drone was first sighted in the airport's vicinity at approximately 5:05 p.m. local time (12:05 p.m. ET) and that the airport was "working closely with the Met Police to prevent any threat to operational safety."

Departures were stopped as a "precautionary measure" during the investigation, the spokesperson said.

Some flight departures had resumed by 6:20 p.m., according to the aviation tracking website Flight 24.

Shortly after, a Heathrow Airport spokesperson said that while departures had resumed, they were continuing to monitor the situation and apologized to passengers who had been affected by the "short suspension."

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