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Date Published: 05/01/2024
Gibraltar flight to the UK forced to make emergency landing in France
The flight from Spain was diverted when fumes were detected in the cabin
Passengers aboard a British Airways (BA) flight from Gibraltar to London Heathrow this week were forced to endure numerous delays before the plane made an emergency landing in France.
None of the passengers were injured although one traveller said that the descent into Nantes was “extremely rough”.
Flight BA493 was originally due to depart from Spain at 4.45pm on Tuesday January 2 but as passengers were sitting on the tarmac, the co-pilot revealed that some tape “had come off the plane”.
They were herded back into the airport to await the arrival of an engineer from Malaga, since none were available in Gibraltar.
They were finally allowed to re-board at 7pm but were hardly in their seats when they were told the engineer had found another problem with the plane which would have to be sorted before take-off, or the passengers would be “at risk”. This didn’t take long, however, and the flight was eventually cleared for take-off at 7.42pm.
But this was far from the end of their ordeal. Once the BA flight reached French airspace, passengers were told the flight would be making an emergency landing in Nantes. They later learned the pilots had detected “fumes” in the cockpit and had to wear oxygen masks for the remainder of the journey.
The plane was met by a fire brigade when it touched down in France and passengers were all offered accommodation for the night.
On the same day, a passenger died aboard a Jet2 flight from Tenerife to Manchester. Cabin crew discovered the man in the plane toilet and the flight was diverted to Cork in Ireland so the body could be removed.
In other news: Hospitals run out of beds as flu epidemic sweeps Spain
Image: BA
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