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The emergency was declared at 3.22pm this afternoon soon after the flight took off from Manchester. The pilots then told air traffic control they believed a cargo door was open, according to Airlive. They said the tower then noticed white vapour coming from one of the engines.

The plane circled above Wigan and St Helens for several minutes before returning to Manchester. It has now landed safely back at Manchester Airport.

GETTY An easyJet flight was forced to return to Manchester today following a technical incident

The flight had been scheduled to travel to Cristiano Ronaldo Airport on Funchal, a Portuguese island. According to FlightRadar24, the flight took off some 35 minutes later than scheduled at 3.15pm. A spokeswoman confirmed the flight had been diverted due to a "technical issue with the forward cargo door indicator".

FLIGHTRADAR24 The easyJet flight was forced to return to Manchester Airport