An easyJet flight from a British airport has been diverted following a ‘medical emergency’ – the passenger who fell ill had been travelling with her husband and a friend
An easyJet flight from the UK was forced into an emergency diversion after a medical emergency on board. The service from Tenerife to Liverpool had to be diverted to a northern Spanish airport on Tuesday.
The pilot put out an urgent request for any doctors or nurses onboard to come forward before it made its unscheduled landing at Santiago-Rosalia de Castro Airport in Galicia. Air traffic controllers revealed the easyJet plane was diverted while attempts were made to “revive a 67-year-old passenger who was unconscious.”
It was not immediately clear today if the woman who fell ill was British, and her current condition is not known. Passengers on board were put up in local hotels for the night, before continuing their onward journeys.
The passenger who fell ill on board the plane is understood to have been travelling with her husband and a friend. An easyJet spokesman said: “Flight EZY3366 from Tenerife to Liverpool on Tuesday evening was required to divert to Santiago–Rosalia de Castro where it was met by paramedics due to a customer onboard requiring urgent medical attention.”
Air traffic controllers said in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The crew of the flight from Tenerife South to Liverpool informed us that they needed to urgently divert to the airport at Santiago because they were trying to revive a 67-year-old female passenger who was unconscious.
“We facilitated a continuous descent and approach to runway 35 while medical care on the ground was coordinated with the airport. We wish the passenger a speedy recovery.”
It comes after a British woman was evacuated by helicopter from a cruise ship after suffering a heart emergency in an unrelated incident. The passenger was rushed by air ambulance to the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo near Galicia’s southern border with Portugal and given urgent medical attention.
The holidaymaker had been enjoying a trip on the Sky Princess boat when she fell ill five miles off Cape Silleiro, north-east Spain. The huge leisure ship, with a 3,660 capacity, had recently left Vigo and was bound for Funchal, on the island of Madeira. A Pesca 1 helicopter from Spain’s coastguard fleet was scrambled to rescue the British national.
Flight diversions for medical emergencies are rare, but pilots may decide to land a plane if a passenger’s condition is serious enough to require urgent medical care on the ground. British airlines have protocols in place to divert to the nearest suitable airport, where local medical teams meet the aircraft. Passengers may not be automatically refunded for delays caused by diversions, as they are considered necessary for safety.
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