A transatlantic flight has been evacuated at Shannon Airport after the jet made an emergency landing there on Monday morning.
The crew of the Delta Air Lines jet declared an emergency over the Atlantic south of Ireland, advising air traffic controllers they had fumes on the flight deck.
Fight DL113 was travelling from Rome to Boston, with 294 passengers and crew on board.
At around 11.20am, while the Airbus A330-900 jet was about 230 kilometres south of Ireland, the crew declared an initial ‘Pan pan’ emergency. A ‘Pan-pan’ indicates an ‘urgency’ on board, but is not as serious as a ‘May day’ alert.
On the ground in Shannon, the airport’s own fire and rescue service was alerted, while the National Ambulance Service, Clare County Fire and Rescue Service and An Garda Síochána were also notified and requested to mobilise resources to Shannon.
The flight landed safely at 11.49am and was met on the runway by airport and local authority fire crews.
Firefighters carried out an inspection of the jet’s undercarriage to ensure it had not overheat during the emergency landing.
The crew advised controllers that they wished to evacuate everyone from the aircraft as soon as possible to ensure no one else was affected by the fumes.
Mobile stairs were placed at the front and rear of the aircraft and, with the help of fire service personnel and paramedics, passengers were safely escorted off the plane.
