Spain-bound Delta flight forced to return to America because of 'biohazard issue' diarrhoea situation

On Tuesday, September 5, passengers on a Delta Airlines flight met with an interesting but horrifying situation which led the airline to turn back the flight.

A passenger on Delta flight DL 194 had a bout of diarrhoea which took a nasty turn and spread all over the aircraft, leading to the flight's turnaround.

At that time, the Delta flight had just left Georgia and was over Virgina when the pilots called off the journey amidst the diarrhoea outbreak. The flight was airborne for two hours on its way to Barcelona from Atlanta with 336 passengers.

As soon as the diarrhoea situation went out of control the captain texted Air Traffic Control with the message "Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhoea all over aircraft — biohazard".

Audio recordings confirmed that the captain termed the diarrhoea situation as a "biohazard issue" and requested for the Delta flight to be returned to Atlanta.

The Delta aircraft finally landed at the Atlanta airport at 10:40 p.m. local time. After a delay of more than five hours, the Delta flight headed to Barcelona once again at 3:00 a.m. local time.

According to Flightradar24, the aircraft was industrially cleaned once it landed in Atlanta which delayed the flight by eight hours.

Passengers on Delta flight DL 194 lauded the crew's prompt and effective action, especially how they cleaned the aircraft and made it ready for the journey again.

One of the passengers John Hurdt who was on the Barcelona-bound Delta flight with his wife revealed how the plane was in a mess from the diarrhoea situation and the crew cleaned up everything in record time. They changed the carpets, said the passenger.

The pilots took the right decision to turn around considering the circumstances and the ground crew along with the flight attendants did a fine job in tackling the situation, the passenger added.

Another person Dee W whose partner was on the Barcelona-bound Delta flight revealed the extent of the diarrhoea situation with the excretion dribbling down the aisle and the whole aircraft getting filled with a stench.

Initially, the Delta crew tried to tackle the smell with a vanilla-scented disinfectant which worsened the diarrhoea smell situation but they thoroughly cleaned the aircraft when it landed in Atlanta, Dee W said on Twitter.

Emergency vehicles and EMTs assisted in carrying away the sick passenger from the plane. As per reports, the diarrhoea was carried off the flight by the emergency services once it landed.

Passengers pointed out how the flight was cleaner than the one they boarded earlier in Atlanta when it resumed services again around 2:30 a.m. local time.

Video footage from the flight shows toilet paper and other substances used to soil the excrement. A Twitter user named Xansby who shared the clip said that his brother was on the flight and he saw the funny side of it as he walked across the aisle which had toilet paper all over the place.

A statement released by Delta Airlines apologised for the diarrhoea situation and the delay and inconvenience caused by it.

Delta said that the team handled the situation efficiently with prompt action and ensured the safety of the passengers. The crew cleaned the plane thoroughly to make it suitable for the customers to resume and complete their journey.

Delta hasn't disclosed the identity of the sick passenger but all the passengers and crew of the concerned flight were transferred to another aircraft.

No other information of the sick passenger is available including whether the passenger continued the journey to Spain when the Delta flight resumed its services after eight hours.

Delta Airlines have been crippled by such problems in recent times, as last week the crew and the passengers of an Atlanta-bound Delta flight flying from Milan had to be hospitalised after the aircraft experienced severe turbulence. All the 11 passengers on that flight were taken to the hospital.