British Airways flight makes emergency landing after crew fall ill

A Transatlantic British Airways flight from San Francisco to London made an emergency landing in Vancouver after crew members fell ill.

All 25 staff, including the three pilots, were taken to hospital for medical checks after landing, a BA spokeswoman said, adding all personnel had been discharged.

Two passengers were given a medical exam on board and found to be healthy.

A BA spokesman said no passengers had felt unwell, so there was no need to take them to hospital. He described the staff check-ups as a precaution.

The airline declined to comment on the nature of the symptoms that forced flight BA286 to be diverted on Monday night.

Laura Kohli, spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said crew members had been assessed for smoke inhalation, adding: “I can confirm we had a total of 25 crew members that were transported to local area hospitals as a precaution.”

The plane, an Airbus A380, took off from San Francisco on Monday evening heading east, but changed course two hours into the flight to head towards Vancouver.

Liz Keller, 38, an advertising strategy director who was on board, told the Guardian the flight had seemed “pretty normal” for the first couple of hours. “Then the captain got on the tannoy and said we were diverting to Calgary because there was a minor technical fault on the plane. Not what you want to hear, but OK.”

Shortly afterwards, the pilot announced that members of the crew had been taken ill. “You could tell the crew was a little distressed: they ended the dinner service early; they were spending a lot of time in the back galley,” Keller said.

The flight landed in Vancouver, where the captain asked passengers to remain seated so they could deal with the unwell crew members.

“Then firemen, fully dressed in outfits and respirators, came down the aisles, and all of a sudden it was like, what’s actually going on in this plane?” Keller said. The firemen were using technical equipment – “I couldn’t begin to guess what it was.”

The flight was greeted by “absolutely loads of police officers”, she added. News footage showed the aircraft surrounded by Emergency vehicles after landing.

Keller said she and other passengers had received little information from the airline since landing, apart from being booked into hotels and given a phone number to call to rebook their flights. “With the lack of information your brain fills in the gaps – that’s worse,” she said. “People want clarity of information and a timeline, and BA hasn’t been able to provide those things.”

When she woke up to call the number on Tuesday morning, the system had crashed, she said. “It feels a bit like we have been left in the lurch now that we are on the ground … This hasn’t been the best 24 hours.”

A BA statement said: “We are sorry for the delay to our customers’ flight but the safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always our top priority.

“The flight from San Francisco diverted to Vancouver after members of the cabin crew became unwell. Our ground team at Vancouver has arranged hotel accommodation for the customers and will book them on alternative flights as soon as possible.”

The airline has launched an investigation into the incident.

Source: The Guardian