India, Sept. 8 -- Several major airports across the UK, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, were forced to halt flights on Tuesday after a technical problem affected the country's air traffic control system.

"We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system. Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. We recognise the ongoing disruption to travel, for which we sincerely apologise," air traffic control provider NATS said in a statement.

"Flights are still departing and airspace is open, but recovery will take some time."

Flightradar24, a website that tracks flights, said on social media that the problem had led to strict controls on both...