‘Crew screamed 'evacuate' so we LEAPT from plane's wings': Inside Ryanair panic as airline accused of downplaying horror
Protocol allegedly went out the window when a steward ran down the aisle screaming "evacuate, evacuate" and panicked passengers clamoured to escape after a false fire alert.
7
7
7
Footage of the Manchester-bound plane on the tarmac in Palma, Majorca shows a cluster of people on the wing - with some plunging to the ground.
Multiple passengers required surgery for badly broken bones after crunching onto the tarmac metres below - despite the airline claiming only "very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.)" were sustained.
Francine Elkinson, 57, suffered a bad break to her right foot and had to undergo a three-hour operation to have pins and plates inserted.
Speaking from her hospital bed in Palma on Monday, Francine told The Sun: "I was watching a film when suddenly they told everyone to evacuate.
"There was an open door and I just went through it. I was so terrified and in a daze that I didn't know what was going on, and I jumped."
Francine said she was among three people taken to the hospital in Palma - and believes there were six overall with broken bones.
Emergency services in Majorca reported that 18 people had been injured in total.
Ryanair has organised for Francine to return to the UK on a flight this evening - but she said she is "terrified" and doesn't want to fly again.
Her friend, Danielle Kelly, 56, was back in surgery on Monday for a third operation after breaks to her foot, wrist and elbow all needed pins inserting.
Other passengers who were onboard have blamed the Ryanair staff for the "totally chaotic" evacuation.
Passenger planes left buried in FOAM in hanger with suds spilling over runway after giant fire extinguishers go wrong
Richard and Jo Barton, from Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, slammed the airline team's behaviour as "appalling", insisting: "They completely failed."
Richard, in his late sixties, said: 'I can't believe what Ryanair are currently claiming.
'They're brushing it off as just a few sprained ankles and banal injuries- that's not what happened.
Jo, in her early 60s, said: "I witnessed a woman with a dislocated leg in a weird angle, it wasn't just sprains and bruises.
'In reality, it was pure hell and chaos. I could see men even pushing women and children out of the way to get out for safety.
'People were scrambling to get off the plane through the exit doors leading to the wings, with people leaping 15 feet from the wings to the ground.
'Those people broke their arms, legs and shoulders and they were screaming and crying in agony."
Richard pins the chaos on the "lack of training and terrible handling" by the team of air stewards.
7
7
He said: "One them was yelling: 'Evacuate, evacuate!'
"Some lads pushed the emergency exit open over the wing, because that's what you're told to do in the safety briefing, and people went out onto the wing.
"Everyone thought there was a fire and there was nobody at all there to direct them - so some people jumped out of panic."
The former operations director believes even one of the air stewardesses broke her leg after plunging from the wing.
"I know this because I helped carry her 50 years away from the plane," he said.
The couple claims that after the passengers evacuated, wounded people were lying around in an unsafe area near the plane - and were forced to wait up to 30 minutes for medical help.
7
7
Passengers were left hanging around with minimal information until a new flight was finally arranged at 7am, Richard said.
Ryanair's said: 'This flight from Palma to Manchester (4 July) discontinued take-off due to a false fire warning light indication.
"Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal.
"While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.) and crew requested immediate medical assistance.
"To minimise disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 07:05 this morning.
"We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Two injured after Southwest plane plummets to avoid potential collision
Two Southwest Airlines flight attendants are being treated for injuries after a passenger jet heading to Las Vegas from southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff on Friday, the airline and passengers said. Southwest flight 1496, headed from Burbank to Las Vegas, received two alerts that made the plane climb and then descend, according to a statement from Southwest. Reported by ABC and according to flight trackers FlightRadar24 and AirNavRadar, the plane avoided a collision with a Hawker Hunter jet, currently registered to a Non-Citizen Corporation, according to FAA registration logs. Southwest said that the flight continued to Las Vegas, where it landed 'uneventfully', and that the airline is working with the FAA to 'further understand the circumstances of the event'. 'We are aware of an incident involving Southwest Airlines flight 1496. The FAA is in contact with Southwest and we are investigating. Ensuring the safety of everyone in the national airspace system remains our top priority,' the FAA said in a statement. A post on social media showed the path that the two planes took in a simulation video. The good news is your 737 got an automated alert, your crew did what they were supposed to do and so your aircraft didn't get dangerously close to the other (a Hawker Hunter jet fighter registered to a defense contractor). A passenger, Caitlin Burdi, likened the experience to the theme 'Tower of Terror' park ride during an interview with Fox News. 'About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, 'OK, that's normal,'' Burdi told Fox. 'Then, within two seconds, it felt like the ride Tower of Terror, where we fell 20 to 30 feet in the air. The screaming, it was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash.' YouTube personality Jimmy Dore posted on social media from the flight. 'Myself and plenty of people flew out of their seats and bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention,' Dore wrote. 'Pilot said his collision warning went off and he needed to avoid plane coming at us.' This was at least the second near-miss for a mid-air collision in the US this week, after a Delta plane headed from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota nearly collided with a B-52 bomber. In March, a passenger jet nearly collided with a military plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National airport, where a collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter had killed at least 67 people just months before.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Southwest Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas takes dramatic plunge in response to nearby aircraft
A Southwest Airline jet heading to Las Vegas from Southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff Friday in response to an alert about a nearby plane, injuring two flight attendants, authorities and passengers said. Southwest flight 1496 was responding to an onboard alert about another aircraft in its vicinity, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA is investigating. The crew responded to two air alerts that required the pilot to climb then descend, the airline said in a statement. The flight departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport just before noon. Passengers posted on social media that the plane took a dramatic drop soon after takeoff. ' Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us,' comedian Jimmy Dore posted on X. The plane was not in the immediate vicinity of the Hollywood Burbank Airport, north of Los Angeles, at the time, said Mike Christensen, an airport spokesman. Christensen said that neither the control tower or the operations department, which tracks planes departing and arriving, have any record of the Southwest flight plunging in their airspace. Southwest said the flight continued to Las Vegas, 'where it landed uneventfully.' The airline said that it is working with the Federal Aviation Administration 'to further understand the circumstances' of the event. This close call is just the latest incident to raise questions about aviation safety in the wake of January's midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Southwest flight plummets, injuring flight attendants
A Southwest Airlines plane rapidly dropped in elevation after departing from the Los Angeles area on Friday, with passengers posting online that the pilot was forced to rapidly change course to avoid a potential collision with another aircraft. Flight 1496 from Hollywood Burbank Airport to Las Vegas plummeted rapidly, lifting passengers out of their seats and injuring two flight attendants. The crew "responded to two onboard traffic alerts... requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts", Southwest said in a statement. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was investigating the "incident". It comes less than one week after a similar near-miss. "Ensuring the safety of everyone in the national airspace system remains our top priority," the FAA statement comedian Jimmy Dore was onboard the plane, and was among the passengers saying that the erratic move was due to a near-miss with another plane. "Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us. Wow," Dore wrote on X. "A flight attendant needed medical attention."His colleague Stef Zamorano added that all the passengers applauded when the plane landed. Caitlin Burdi told Fox News that passengers were "screaming" as the plane rapidly fell. "It was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash," she added that the pilot came over the speaker afterwards to say that the plane had almost hit another plane, and that they had lost contact with air traffic control. "I just remember him saying, 'What just happened was we almost collided with another plane, and I had to make the emergency attempt to go under because we lost service with the air traffic controller,'" she to CNN, the plane was nearly intercepted by a privately owned Hawker Hunter fighter jet after less than six minutes in the jet crossed less than two miles in front of it, and within a few hundred feet of its altitude, CNN reported, citing flight tracking data. It had departed from El Pas, Texas and was flying to Oxnard, Southwest statement said that the flight continued on to Las Vegas, "where it landed uneventfully", and that the airline is "engaged" with the FAA "to further understand the circumstances". "We appreciate the professionalism of our Flight Crew and Flight Attendants in responding to this event. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees."It comes less than one week after a Delta regional flight from Minneapolis was forced to make a sudden evasive manoeuvre to avoid a US military bomber.
