A helicopter transporting Prime Minister P J Patterson was yesterday forced to land in a private field near to the town of Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth due to bad weather.

However, the prime minister’s press secretary Sandra Graham last night denied a report that Patterson was left stranded after the emergency landing because no police vehicle was available at the time to transport him.

“His drivers were nearby and the local police arrived on the scene about 10 minutes after the copter landed and directed his security team to the area,” Graham said.

The Santa Cruz police also said they responded quickly.

“We arrived on the scene as soon as we could,” an officer from the station said yesterday.

The prime minister’s helicopter was grounded for about 20 minutes before Patterson decided to be driven back into the capital by his security detail. “The copter was landed as a precautionary measure because of bad weather.

The clouds were too low,” Daphne Innerarity, advisor to the prime minister said yesterday.

Patterson, Graham said, was travelling to Kingston after attending a funeral of one of his constituents in Westmoreland when the Jamaica Defence Force pilot who was flying the aircraft decided to land in the private field for safety reasons.