An unavoidable situation unfolded midair recently when a US Delta flight had to take a U-turn and make an emergency landing after a patient got sick with diarrhoea on the plane. The flight was headed to Barcelona, Spain, from Atlanta when the crappy issue came up and a passenger had diarrhoea all the way through the plane. The plane was two hours into the eight-hour journey from Atlanta, Georgia to Barcelona, Spain when it had to take a detour.
The pilot, while speaking to the air traffic control, described the situation as a “biohazard issue,” citing that a passenger had experienced diarrhoea throughout the 2-hour journey.
“This is a biohazard issue. We’ve had a passenger who had diarrhoea all the way through the aeroplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta,” the pilot said, as per an audio clip shared on LiveATC.com.
While the passenger’s identity remains unknown, both the crew and the passengers on the plane were relocated. Flight DL194 eventually reached Barcelona at 5:10 p.m. the following day, which was eight hours later than the originally scheduled time, as reported.
It remains unclear whether the passenger who had the medical emergency was on board when the flight eventually touched down in Spain.
After the Delta flight landed in Atlanta, cleaning crews were able to thoroughly clean it, as flight records indicated its use for another flight. Delta officials verified that a “medical issue” had occurred on the flight, necessitating its diversion to Atlanta for cleaning.
A Delta spokesperson noted, “Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the aeroplane and get our customers to their final destination. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”