Dozens of Ryanair passengers injured in emergency landing
Passengers ‘bleeding from ears’ after cabin pressure dropped and plane plunged ‘3,000 metres in less than one minute’
More than 30 passengers on a Ryanair flight were reportedly taken to hospital after the cabin became depressurised and the plane had to make an emergency landing in Frankfurt.
In interviews with German and Irish media, passengers described moments of terror as their plane — flying from Dublin to Zadar, Croatia, late on Friday — descended suddenly, following what Ryanair said was a drop in cabin pressure.
A passenger said on Facebook there was a “dive of 3,000 metres in less than one minute”.
A lot of people complained about sore ears, but praised the pilots for doing an “excellent job”, he said.
But some passengers were angry about the way the company treated them.
Minerva Galvan Domenech from Spain told news website Spiegel Online that passengers, some of them bleeding from their ears, mouth or nose, had to wait 45 minutes before being allowed to leave the plane.
Passenger Conor Brennan told the Irish Times newspaper that “airport staff and Red Cross did their best to handle the situation, as Ryanair were nowhere to be seen.”
“They really displayed a shocking lack of empathy for their customers, almost bordering on inhumane,” he was quoted as saying.
Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that 33 passengers were taken to hospital, adding that federal police said passengers were complaining of “headache and earache and suffered from nausea”.
Galvan Domenech said many passengers had to spend the night at the airport, some of them lying on the ground, according to Spiegel Online.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “This flight from Dublin to Zadar diverted to Frankfurt Hahn due to an in-flight depressurisation. In line with standard procedure, the crew deployed oxygen masks and initiated a controlled descent. The aircraft landed normally and customers disembarked, where a small number received medical attention as a precaution.”
The airline said there was a shortage of accommodation for passengers who had to wait until Saturday morning for another flight.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
