VIP plane following Pope overshoots runway

A plane carrying Filipino officials who were part of the Pope's visit to a typoon-hit city has overshot the runway minutes after the pontiff's jet left.

Television pictures showed the aircraft on grass to the side of the tarmac in Tacloban with its nose cone on the ground and ambulances rushing to the scene.

Other emergency services appeared to be spraying water onto the jet.

Nobody is thought to have been injured when the aircraft, carrying four senior cabinet members, came down.

Pope Francis had cut short his visit to the Filipino city because of the approaching Tropical Storm Mekkhala.

He earlier celebrated mass with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan which devastated the area in November 2013.

There was further tragedy when a 27-year-old Catholic relief service volunteer was killed by a falling speaker following the mass.

The typhoon - the most powerful storm ever recorded on land - 14 months ago, killing 7,350 people in the Philippines’ worst natural disaster.