Angela Merkel's plane makes emergency landing in Cologne

BERLIN,

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane, headed for the G20 summit in Argentina, made an emergency landing in Cologne on Thursday due to a technical problem, the Chancellery said.

"Following a technical problem, the official plane landed safely in Cologne," it said, without indicating when she could leave again.

The Airbus A340-300, named Konrad Adenauer after Germany's first post war chancellor, was met on the tarmac by fire engines, the German news agency DPA said, adding that Merkel was waiting for a replacement plane to taker her to Buenos Aires.

The plane turned back from the Netherlands and landed in Cologne because it was the only base with a a replacement plane, the news agency said.