Passenger jet makes emergency landing after pilot collapses mid-air—report
A plane had to make an emergency landing after the captain reportedly collapsed in the middle of the flight.
PEOPLE Magazine reported that the EasyJet flight EZY2252 was heading from Hurghada, Egypt to Manchester, England when the incident happened on Saturday, Feb. 8, forcing it to make a diverted landing in Greece.
The airline company confirmed that the pilot suffered a "medical emergency" mid-flight in a statement sent to the media outlet.
"The first officer performed a routine landing in accordance with standard operating procedures and the aircraft was met by paramedics on arrival in Athens," it said, adding that the flight had to be "delayed overnight."
Passengers stayed in a hotel before taking off the following day.
"We did all possible to minimize the impact of the disruption and arranged hotel rooms and meals where available," a spokesperson for EasyJet said. "We would like to apologize to passengers for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience and understanding."
According to a report by Manchester Evening News, one of the passengers felt that "something was wrong" when the cabin crew "rushed to the front of the plane where a man had collapsed" around two hours into the ride. They initially thought it was a fellow passenger that needed medical attention, but they started to panic when the cabin crew revealed it was the pilot that fell ill.
The passenger claimed a screen was used to cover the view of the front of the plane while the pilot was being given medical assistance.
They also described the landing as "rocky and rough."
"We started to panic. I got upset once I felt how rocky and rough the landing was and started to panic thinking it was the end. Another passenger began to have a panic attack and was given an oxygen mask to help," they said.
Still, the co-pilot received praise for keeping everyone on the plane safe, the passenger added.
