"High probability" of further Boeing 777 crashes

A fault with the Rolls-Royce engines in Boeing 777s that caused a flight to lose power at Heathrow last January is highly likely to happen again, American investigators have revealed.

Despite the warnings from the national transportation safety board (NTSB), almost 250 777s - 15 of which are operated by British Airways - will remain in service without the fault being corrected.

Rolls-Royce is working on a solution to engine problems that cause blockages of ice to develop but these will not be rolled out for another 18 months.

Mark Rosenker of the NTSB said there was a "high probability" of an identical fault occurring in the future.

"We are encouraged to see that Rolls-Royce is already working on a redesign, and we are confident that with the federal aviation administration and the European aviation safety agency overseeing the process, this flight safety issue - even one as complex as this - will be successfully and expeditiously resolved," he added.

Last January a BA flight from Beijing with 152 people on board lost thrust as it came to land at Heathrow.

Just one person was injured as the pilots managed to guide the plane past a perimeter fence to crash land just short of the runway.