Passengers in holiday flight scare

10:37am Tuesday 26th August 2008

Terrified passengers spoke of their terror as their holiday jet lost cabin pressure and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Arctic explorer Pen Hadow, one of 168 passengers on board the Ryanair flight, said passengers cried with relief as the plane landed safely at Limoges in France to where it had diverted.

"I would say some people thought we were going to die," said Mr Hadow, who was aboard the flight from Bristol to Girona in Spain with his wife, Mary, son Wilf, nine, and daughter Freya, six.

Wilf was one of 16 people taken to hospital suffering from ear problems after the aircraft lost height and oxygen masks dropped down.

Mr Hadow complained that there had been no announcements and that the oxygen masks were not working properly. But Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said that the correct procedures had been followed and the masks had worked correctly.

The incident happened on Monday evening, with the plane touching down at Limoges around 10.30pm UK time. Mr Hadow described hearing a "loud and unnerving sound" as the cabin pressure dropped.

He went on: "I knew it wasn't an engine problem. There was a sudden drop in temperature and a rush of cold air. You think to yourself 'God, is there a hole in the aircraft?' It actually felt like someone had opened a door at the back of the aircraft. It was incredibly cold.

"The next thing, the oxygen masks were dropping. My highest priority was to get a mask on to my son who was sitting next to me in a bemused and frightened state. We were descending for about five minutes from what I assume was 30,000 or 40,000ft to 8,000ft. As we landed we saw fire engines every quarter of a mile down the runway.

"It was obvious to me that there was depressurisation in the cabin but there was no announcement and no evidence of the cabin crew for most of this experience. Why on earth didn't they give a few more calming words to the passengers?"

Mr O'Leary said: "The oxygen masks were working, the correct safety procedures were followed." Defending the crew's actions, he said it was not possible for them to make an announcement about the situation because safety regulations meant the pilots and cabin staff had to don oxygen masks themselves.