Probe under way after Ryanair emergency landing

AN investigation is under way to discover why a Ryanair plane lost cabin pressure on a holiday flight from Bristol to Girona that was diverted to Limoges in France and forced to make an emergency landing.

Some passengers suffered ear problems after the plane was forced to descend at high speed due to the loss of cabin pressure.

Passengers also claimed that certain oxygen masks on the flight were not working and there were no immediate announcements to passengers about what was happening.

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary hit back at the claims, however, and said the masks had worked normally and the cockpit crew had made an announcement after bringing the plane down to safer levels.

Later, Ryanair said its engineers had confirmed the masks were working properly after inspecting the plane.

One passenger, Pen Hadow, who was travelling with his family and 168 passengers abroad flight FR9336 claimed that oxygen masks inside the cabin had failed to inflate.

He said: “Mine wasn’t filling up with oxygen and neither was my son’s. He was hyperventilating. I looked at the lady on my left and hers hadn’t filled up either.

“From where I was sitting I could see about 20 masks and only a few of them were inflating. It was extremely variable as to who got oxygen in their masks, and the cabin crew didn’t seem to know what to do.”

Responding to the claims 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 put on oxygen masks themselves.

He added: “The first thing we do in these situation is divert to safety, take the safety-first option. We have to require that the pilots and the cabin crew also deploy their oxygen masks.

“They can’t be making passenger announcements when they have their oxygen masks on. As the passengers confirmed, the pilot did make an announcement once he got down to 8,000ft — where it is safe to take the oxygen masks off — that they were diverting to Limoges.”

Ryanair said 16 passengers, accompanied by five family members had gone to a local hospital at Limoges complaining of earache.

Most passengers were flown on to Girona in a replacement plane. Those who had gone to hospital plus 18 others who had chosen not to take the replacement flight left Limoges for Spain by coach just before 12pm Irish time yesterday.

A Ryanair spokeswoman said: “Ryanair’s engineers have inspected the aircraft and have confirmed that the oxygen masks which deployed were working properly. The Irish and French aviation authorities have been notified of this incident and a full investigation of this incident will be undertaken.

“The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, is five years old and was last serviced on July 24. The captain of the flight has flown with Ryanair for five years and seven months, and has over 13,400 hours’ flying experience.

“While this investigation is ongoing with the French and Irish authorities, Ryanair will not comment further on this incident.”