A Ryanair flight from Budapest to Edinburgh on January 31 witnessed four passengers falling ill mid-flight. A teenager and three adults collapsed during the flight. Instead of making an emergency landing, the aircraft completed its journey only allowing the stricken passengers to get medical help hours after they fell ill. The airline confirmed that some passengers had to be given emergency medical aid upon landing, but they denied that there was something wrong with the aircraft.

Recalling the incident, 27-year-old passenger Shaun Pinkerton described his experience on-board as "the flight from hell."

The young garage manager claimed that when they boarded the flight in the Hungarian capital, the smoke alarm of the aircraft was going off. Yet the flight departed on time at 9:50 pm local time, after engineers shut off the alarm instead of addressing the issue. During the three-hour flight four passengers, including Pinkerton, passed out.

Ryanair Planes
Ryanair claims aircraft had ‘no fault’ after four passengers collapsed on-board Reuters

Speaking to The Sun, Pinkerton recalled that the first person to collapse was a 17-year-old girl. After CPR was administered, the girl was given oxygen. Following the young girl, a second passenger reportedly passed out. Cabin crew provided both the unwell passengers with oxygen masks. Pinkerton was the third person to collapse. After he received medical attention, a fourth passenger fell ill.

Pinkerton claims that he fell unconscious an hour into the three-hour-long flight. For the next two hours, all the sick passengers only got oxygen as a form of treatment. Ideally, the aircraft should have landed at the nearest airport when the passengers were taken ill, so that they can get emergency medical aid. The pilots took the call of not stopping for the sake of the sick passengers, risking their health and safety.

The sick passengers were seated towards the front and middle of the aircraft.

The Independent reached out to Ryanair as well as Edinburgh Airport to confirm the incident. Both confirmed that the flight crew requested emergency medical assistance before landing. Ryanair claims that only two passengers required medical attention after the flight landed normally. According to the airline, the aircraft had no technical faults. The passengers falling ill on board had nothing to do with the aircraft.