Multiple airline passengers awaiting takeoff fell ill in stifling triple-digit heat while taxiing behind more than a dozen other flights at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Monday.
Passengers aboard a Delta Air Lines flight to Atlanta were waiting in 111-degree heat with no air conditioning when the pilot announced the plane had to return to the gate due to multiple emergencies.
The situation worsened, and flight attendants were seen running up and down the aisles with oxygen tanks. Multiple passengers had passed out and some had soiled themselves.
The pilot instructed passengers to “hit your call button if you’re having a medical emergency.”
Finally, after a total of four hours on the hot plane, all passengers were asked to disembark back into the airport.
Passengers were later told that flight attendants had also fallen ill and the flight might not be able to take off.
Temperatures at the airport fluctuated between 111 and 115 degrees on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The flight was moved to 7 a.m. Tuesday. Passengers, however, awoke to find the flight had been canceled again.
“We apologize for the experience our customers had on flight 555 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on July 17, which ultimately resulted in a flight cancellation,” the airline said in a statement.
