Passengers had their hands full coping with the smell and mess in the confines of the cabin, but praised the airline for aborting the flight. Picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency (ANA)
Passengers aboard Delta Airlines Flight 194 from Atlanta in the US to Barcelona in Spain encountered a flow of faeces after a passenger suffered an extreme case of diarrhoea that spread throughout the aircraft.
Flight 194 had to turn around two hours into the flight and head back to Atlanta, international media reported.
Audio and visuals from Live Air Traffic, or LiveATC.Net, were shared to X (formerly known as Twitter) and included the transmission by the pilot to air traffic control about why they turned the plane around.
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. 👀🥴
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 3, 2023
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
"It’s just a biohazard issue; we had a passenger who had diarrhoea all the way throughout the aeroplane so they want us to come back to Atlanta," the pilot can be heard saying on the radio message.
The Airbus A350 landed back at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the Independent UK reported, where staff had to clean up the ‘mess’. It departed for Barcelona again after a thorough cleaning.
Delta Air Lines A350 from Atlanta to Barcelona on Friday night was forced to turn around after a passenger had diarrhea. pic.twitter.com/VOy8uqQofi
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) September 6, 2023
On an X post featuring the audio and visuals of the incident, an X user commented, claiming both he and his wife were on the flight.
"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 with the attendants and the pilots," John Hurdt said.
Some of the comments also indicated that staff aboard the plane tried using a vanilla-scented disinfectant to mask the smell, but that did not help.
A video of the plane before it was cleaned is also circulating social media, and it does not look pretty.
IOL