Terrifying moment as the plane fills with smoke, forcing an emergency landing, injuring twelve passengers and leaving one crew member in intensive care
This is the terrifying moment a plane fills with smoke, forces an emergency landing and leaves twelve passengers injured and a crew member in intensive care.
Footage shows heavy smoke engulfing the cabin of the Swiss Airlines flight from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday evening.
The smoke in the cabin and cockpit reportedly arose due to engine problems, with passengers claiming one engine exploded and caused a fire.
The plane had to make an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, and all passengers and crew had to be evacuated from the plane.
Local police said 12 passengers and five crew members were injured in the incident, with one crew member being treated in intensive care after suffering serious injuries.
A witness told the Swiss newspaper 20 minutes that the flight attendant was unconscious at the time of the evacuation and had to be resuscitated by other crew members.
Another passenger said an explosion caused smoke in the cabin. ‘There was a strange noise, a lot of smoke and people couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know what had happened,” the woman told the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung.
She said she was sleeping when the “strange noise” woke her up and she smelled smoke. ‘I panicked, I didn’t know what was going on. I tried to calm myself down,” she added.
Footage shows heavy smoke engulfing the cabin of the Swiss Airlines flight from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday evening
The plane had to make an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, and all passengers and crew had to be evacuated from the plane (photo above)
Local police said twelve passengers and five crew members were injured in the incident, with one crew member being treated in intensive care after suffering serious injuries (photo: an ambulance on the tarmac after the plane made the emergency landing)
Other people on board claimed they saw an explosion and fire in the engine.
Social media users have criticized the airline after a photo shared by a passenger from the smoky cabin appears to show no oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling to provide passengers with fresh air.
The remaining crew members and passengers suffered only minor injuries, according to initial findings published by local police.
But Swiss said it was “concerned about the condition of a cabin crew member who was taken by helicopter to hospital in Graz.” His condition is currently unclear.”
The airline added in a statement this morning: ‘We continue to monitor with concern the condition of the crew member, who is in intensive care. The relatives are on site and are also being cared for by Swiss specialists.
‘Swiss also has close contact with the treating doctors. Our thoughts are with those affected and we sincerely hope that our colleague’s health will improve quickly.’
The company previously said it had deployed a passenger and crew care team, technicians and a local authority support team to Graz overnight to provide ground support.
She confirmed the emergency landing in a statement: ‘SWISS flight LX1885 from Bucharest to Zurich made an emergency landing in Graz due to smoke. All 74 passengers and 5 crew members have been evacuated, with 17 requiring medical attention.
It added that a special flight would depart at 9.45am on Tuesday to return passengers to Zurich before Christmas Day.
In an earlier statement, Swiss said the crew “decided to make an unplanned landing in Graz.”
The airport in Graz was closed yesterday due to the incident, local media report.