New York: In a strange event, pilots of a Delta flight which took off from Detroit to Amsterdam were forced to divert the flight to New York’s Kennedy Airport on Wednesday. The reason was something which could be called "rare" but it sounded quirky when the pilots had to announce an "emergency". The pilots took swift action after passengers were served spoiled food, airline officials said. The redeye flight took off from Detroit around 11 pm Tuesday and landed in New York at 4 am "after reports that a portion of the Main Cabin in-flight meal service was spoiled," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.
Delta Plane with 277 passengers makes emergency landing
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said 14 of the plane’s 277 passengers as well as 10 crew members were treated by medical personnel when the flight landed. None of them required hospitalisation. It was not clear how many people in total ate the spoiled food. Delta said it would investigate the incident. "This is not the service Delta is known for and we sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and delay in their travels," the Delta spokesperson said.
The Port Authority said passengers were being provided with hotel rooms and that all would be rebooked to continue to their destinations.
When a Delta Airlines plane made u-turn due to diarrhoea
Notably, the incident was not the first time Delta Airlines took the strange decision at a time when the flight was cruising at its zenith. Earlier in September last year, a Delta flight from the United States headed to Spain was forced to take a U-turn after a passenger suffered severe diarrhoea. The pilot termed the emergency situation as a biohazard issue. “We've had a passenger who's had diarrhoea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta,” the pilot told the air traffic control.
According to reports, all the passengers and crew members were transferred to another flight. As the flight returned to Atlanta, the plane underwent a thorough cleaning leading to an eight-hour delay in its original time.
Delta officials confirmed the occurrence of a 'medical issue' on the flight, resulting in the emergency landing and subsequent cleaning. However, they did not provide specific details regarding the medical reason for the incident.
(With inputs from agency)
