Flying Dutchman forced into emergency landing

IT was called The Flying Dutchman and maybe its moniker was an omen. The original ship of that name was condemned to an eternity of spectral sailing after its captain cursed God and the devil for landing him in the eye of a storm.

Yesterday, the captain of its namesake, God and the devil aside, brought passengers and crew on board the stricken jumbo safely to land in Cork Airport amid worries of a fire aboard.

At approximately 9.23am, an indicator light lit up in the cockpit of the Boeing 747-400 series indicating that there might be a fire in the cargo hold.

By 9.30am, the captain of the KLM734, en route from Aruba in the West Indies to Amsterdam, was concerned enough to put Shannon and Cork Airports on full alert for an emergency landing.

By 9.45am, the Cork Joint Emergency Action Plan was in full swing as the jumbo approached to land.

A&E units in the Southern Health Board region were put on standby to receive 428 passengers and crew and six ambulances were waiting on the apron within 20 minutes, with fire service and garda back-up. At 10.03, the 10-year-old 377 tonne aircraft landed safely and the emergency plan was stepped down.

Two passengers were taken to Cork University Hospital for a check-up, but their condition was not related to the emergency, said a spokesperson for Aer Rianta.

Passengers were eventually allowed to disembark and taken to the Great Southern and Carrigaline Court Hotels for a meal while experts sought to determine what had prompted the warning light to come on.

The travellers, the majority of them Dutch holidaymakers returning from a week in the sun, were more perturbed at having to spend two and a quarter hours sitting on the runway, waiting for coaches to take them to the hotels, than at the emergency diversion.

Glaswegian Matthew Dunlop, who was travelling with his daughter Rachel, said no one had panicked.

“Everything was fine on board, we were given regular updates by the pilot. He told us there was a bit of overheating in the cargo hold, and as a precautionary measure, we were diverting to Cork. Everyone was sleeping at the time and I don’t think we realised the full extent of what was going on.”