Transatlantic passengers faint on British Airways flight
A British Airways plane was forced to taxi to a remote Terminal 5 stand because of fears that those on board may have been affected by a mystery illness or fumes. The transatlantic flight from Newark was quarantined after six passengers mysteriously fainted causing officials to speculate that a stomach bug was spreading throughout the cabin.
The subsequent decontamination operation involved fire teams boarding the aircraft dressed in specially designed suits and carrying equipment to scan the plane. Ambulances were on standby and a paddling pool was placed at the end of one of the escape shoots as part of the emergency precautions.
All of the 216 passengers on board the BA flight were required to remain in the cabin until the afflicted were well enough to disembark. A spokesperson for BA said that after being assessed by medical staff all those who had been affected were allowed to continue on their journeys. Although BA have not said what the problem was the London Fire Brigade declared that after the whole plane had been checked using special equipment it was safe to fly. BA says that it was put back into active service on the same day. They did not however say whether the aircraft had undergone any specialist cleaning.
One of the passengers said that by the time officials declared it safe for passengers to get off the aircraft those elderly that had not already fainted looked like they were pretty close to doing so. The problem appears to have affected passengers spread throughout economy class.
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