A U.S. bound flight has diverted to Shannon Airport this afternoon to seek medical attention for a seriously ill passenger.
British Airways flight BA-255 was travelling from London Heathrow to Bridgetown on the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados at the time.
The flight departed Heathrow at around 11.25am and was a little over an hour into its journey when the crew declared a medical emergency. At the time, the Boeing 777-300(ER) jet was about 350 kilometres off the south coast of Ireland.
The crew confirmed they had a passenger on board who required urgent medical attention and that they wished to divert to Shannon Airport. The flight was cleared to reroute to Shannon where emergency medical services were placed on standby. The National Ambulance Service dispatched a rapid response advanced paramedic unit and an emergency ambulance to the airport.
It’s understood the cabin crew members cared for the young woman and that a defibrillator was used. It’s believed that the woman in her early 20s had a cardiac episode.
The flight landed safely in poor visibility at 1.20pm and was met by airport fire crews. The fire service had been placed on standby as a precaution as the jet had earlier dumped aviation fuel. This is a standard procedure at Shannon when an aircraft has jettisoned fuel before landing.
Fire crews pursued the jet along the runway and accompanied it to the terminal where ambulance crews were also standing by. Paramedics quickly board the aircraft and assess the patient. The woman was later transported by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.
Meanwhile, three other flights were diverted to Shannon Airport this afternoon due to the adverse weather conditions.
EI841 routing from Amsterdam to Cork landed safely at Shannon at 11.55am, and EI711 routing from London Heathrow to Cork landed at 12.04pm. A KLM flight routing from Amsterdam to Cork diverted to Shannon and landed safely at 13:30.
Commenting, a spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Group said: “All air services from Shannon Airport are running to schedule today. Our team has been working 24/7 to ensure the airport’s runway, taxiways and apron remain free from ice and will continue to do so during this cold snap.”
