Plane Forced to Turn Around, Make Emergency Landing After Diarrhea Creates 'Biohazard Issue'
Talk about running behind.
An international flight that took off from Atlanta on Friday had to return to the airport two hours after takeoff following what was reported to be a very messy situation.
The Delta Air Lines flight bound for Barcelona, Spain, turned around after a passenger experienced diarrhea, according to WAGA-TV in Atlanta.
The mess apparently was not isolated to a single area of the plane, either.
A purported recording of the pilot’s call to air traffic control was shared on a flight-oriented social media account.
“This is a biohazard issue,” the pilot said, according to the post by Thenewarea51.
“We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta,” he explained.
A Delta Airlines Airbus A350 turned around back to Atlanta Friday night because of diarrhea throughout the airplane from a passenger and it’s a biohazard. 👀🥴
The FAA flight strip for DL194 was posted to Reddit (📷xStang05x) Also a passenger posted here asking why her son’s… pic.twitter.com/VWbkB47wF1
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 3, 2023
The same account that posted the recording also shared a screenshot of a post from a concerned family member who claimed to have had a child aboard the plane and asked Delta why it had turned around.
“@Delta any idea what’s going on with DL 194? In flight for almost 2 hours and now heading back to Atlanta with my son on board,” the person wrote. “Would like an update as to what the issue is and what the update is on getting to Barcelona.”
One person who responded to the post claimed to be aboard the flight and said grounding the plane was the right move.
“Both my wife and I were on the flight,” John Hurdt said. “It was a mess. The pilots made the right decision to turn around. The ground crew ripped out the carpet and put new in. Considering the circumstances, the ground crew did a great job, along [with] the attendants and the pilots.”
Both my wife and I were on the flight. It was a mess. The pilots made the right decision to turn around. The ground crew ripped out the carpet and put new in. Considering the circumstances, the ground crew did a great job, along the attendants and the pilots.
— John Hurdt (@john_hurdt) September 4, 2023
The Airbus A350 safely landed in Atlanta around 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Fox Business confirmed with the airline that the plane had to return to the airport but could not verify the alleged messy situation.
Delta also skirted around the issue in a statement on the matter to WAGA.
“Delta flight 194 from Atlanta to Barcelona returned to Atlanta following an onboard medical issue,” it said. “Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the airplane and get our customers to their final destination.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”
Passengers arrived at their destination on Saturday about eight hours behind schedule, according to Fox Business. In all, 336 passengers made their way to Barcelona.
It was not known whether the passenger who became ill made it to Europe.
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