As of: March 15, 2024, 3:00 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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A relaxed start to your vacation looks different: two emergencies on board delayed the arrival of a Eurowings plane in Mallorca by several hours.
Medical emergencies on board an aircraft can occur again and again.
And the fact that a plane has to return to the airport after take-off happens more often than passengers would like - as was the case recently, for example, on a flight operated by the American Delta Air Lines, where maggots suddenly fell out of the overhead compartment.
However, a Eurowings flight to Mallorca on February 22nd had to turn around twice, as a passenger, who is a journalist, described in an article in the
Mindener Tagblatt
.
Mallorca plane turns back twice
A Eurowings plane was delayed for twelve hours due to two medical emergencies.
(Symbolic image) © Markus Mainka/Imago
The trip started at 6:17 a.m. from Hanover airport.
But as soon as the cruise altitude was reached, an older woman behind the passenger is said to have shouted: “There is an emergency!”, as he also reported to the online newspaper
Mallorca Magazin
afterwards.
The plane turned back towards Hanover and landed back at its starting point at 6:42 a.m.
Emergency vehicles are said to have already been waiting on the tarmac to pick up the patient.
Almost an hour later, the remaining passengers were supposed to continue on to Palma de Mallorca as planned.
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But that shouldn't happen so quickly either.
“We were just somewhere above Frankfurt when another call came from behind: 'There's a medical emergency here!'" This time it was apparently a diabetes patient who needed medical treatment.
The pilot decided to make a stopover in Stuttgart, where the plane landed at 9:44 a.m.
This time, however, the travelers had to wait a full seven hours at the airport before they could continue.
The airline issued the passengers a 20 euro voucher to compensate them, an amount that was “of course immediately gone” given the high prices at the airport.
In the end, the journalist and his family made it to the Balearic island on the same day - twelve hours late.
But he didn't let that spoil his mood for long: "After a day we had recovered from the exertion and it was fine again," said the man, according to
Mallorca Magazine
.
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How likely are medical emergencies on airplanes?
The general trend seems to be that medical emergencies occur more frequently on board aircraft.
This is indicated by a meta-study that appeared in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2021.
This is due, among other things, to the growth of the aviation industry, the popularity of commercial flights and the increasing aging of passengers.
Nevertheless, the probability of such an event is very low: According to the researchers, 18.2 emergencies occur per million passengers worldwide.
The most common causes include fainting, gastrointestinal, respiratory and neurological diseases.