Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Malta to Birmingham were left vomiting, stripping off clothes, and passing out in sweltering heat after being trapped inside a grounded plane, according to reports.
Flight FR7268 was scheduled to depart at 5:40am on Monday, August 10, but sat on the tarmac in 25 degrees heat. Ryanair confirmed the flight was delayed prior to departure due to a "minor technical issue" and was delayed further when a passenger became ill on board.
Passenger ordeal
For passenger Eva Gregory, from Spondon, Derby, who was travelling with her mother and brother, the ordeal triggered a severe panic attack as medical emergencies reportedly unfolded around them.
Eva claimed the nightmare began even before boarding, with passengers reportedly forced to spend an hour crammed inside two shuttle buses with little to no aircon. However, Ryanair stated that passengers were on the bus for an additional 10 minutes, where air conditioning was available.
Passengers were then left waiting in the blazing heat on the airstrip for a further 20 minutes before finally getting on the plane.
Extreme heat on board
"When we boarded, it was immediately obvious the air conditioning was not on," Eva said. "It was like walking into extreme heat. We were sitting and waiting with no air conditioning at all for over an hour. All the passengers were extremely agitated and quickly became frustrated.
Desperate for relief, passengers began removing their clothes as temperatures soared. "Two people passed out, I'm not sure how many were throwing up," said Eva. "I felt like I needed to throw up, but because I have a phobia of being sick, it gave me a panic attack.
"The elderly people seemed extremely distressed. They [the staff] didn’t even offer free bottles of water to anyone, even those experiencing medical emergencies."
Crew praised despite chaos
Despite the chaos, Eva praised the flight crew. "The Ryanair cabin crew absolutely did their best," said Eva. "They were telling them not to let us onboard until the air conditioning was fixed. The other workers did not listen to the cabin crew and then the crew were the ones dealing with passengers’ anger when it was not their fault."
The air conditioning kicked in after take off, but Eva said she was left feeling "uneasy and angry." She later shared footage of the ordeal online, showing passengers standing in the cabin as crew appeared to attend to distressed travellers, captioned: "Passing out, throwing up, crying and having panic attacks".
The clip prompted replies from alleged fellow passengers corroborating the nightmare. One person wrote: "It was horrendous," while another added: "People passing out was crazy."
Ryanair response
Addressing the delay, a spokesperson for Ryanair told the Daily Mirror: "This flight from Malta to Birmingham (10 August) was delayed prior to departure due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft and subsequently became delayed after a passenger became ill onboard.
"Following an inspection of the aircraft by engineers, the aircraft was cleared to operate, and this flight departed Malta at 19:00pm local."
