DUBLIN — A Ryanair flight suddenly lost cabin pressure, and plummeted 27.000 feet, causing 33 passengers to be hospitalized.
The 189 passengers on the Ryanair flight FR7312 from Dublin, Ireland to Zadar, Croatia were more or less midway when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure.
According to Ryanair, oxygen masks were released, and the plane initiated a "controlled descent" towards Frankfurt Hahn airport, as the flight plunged from 37,000 to 10,000 feet over a seven-minute period.
The plane landed safely and passengers were disembarked.Thirty-three of them were taken to the hospital as the sudden pressure loss caused nausea and headaches, while some travelers were bleeding from their nose, mouth and eardrums.
According to Reuters, most passengers were boarded on another aircraft the next morning. Twenty-two were bused to Croatia as they were told not to fly, while a few others decided to stop their journey there.
Passengers said the airport staff and the Red Cross did their best to handle the situation, but they blamed Ryanair for their lack of empathy. While the Irish company denied any inappropriate conduct, people reported that children were left without lunch or water, and some passengers even had to sleep in the airport.