A packed plane en route from London Heathrow to Beijing has been forced into an emergency landing in Siberia after suffering an "engine failure" mid-flight.

The Air China jet was carrying 311 passengers along with crew to the Chinese capital before being diverted to Nizhnevartovsk in Russia’s Khanty-Mansi region.

The plane touched down at 8.17am local time this morning.

Footage showed the huge plane rolling onto the tarmac at an airport where British flights rarely visit.

The plane left Heathrow at 10.43pm last night before running into trouble over Russian airspace.

It is still unclear how many British citizens were on board the plane.