Flight diverts to Shannon Airport due to illness among cabin crew

The flight was met at the terminal by ambulance paramedics. File picture

A passenger flight from the United States to Europe diverted to Shannon Airport this morning after a cabin crew member was reported to have fallen ill.

United Airlines flight UA-74 was travelling from Newark in New Jersey to Frankfurt, Germany at the time. There were 175 passengers and crew on board.

At around 8.30am, when the Boeing 767-300 series jet was about 500 kilometres southwest of Shannon, the flight advised air traffic controllers that a member of the cabin crew had fallen ill.

At the time, the flight crew was in contact with controllers at the Irish Aviation Authority’s North Atlantic Communications Centre at Ballygirreen in Co. Clare.

The crew advised controllers that they wished to divert to Shannon and requested emergency medical services to be alerted and placed on stand-by. The ill cabin crew member was cared for by colleagues as the flight diverted to Shannon.

On the ground, the National Ambulance Service was alerted and requested to mobilise resources to the airport ahead of the flight’s arrival. Shannon Airport’s Fire and Rescue Service had also been placed on stand-by as a precaution and met the jet when it landed shortly before 9.20am.

The flight was met at the terminal by ambulance paramedics. No details on the patient's condition were available.

The flight resumed its journey to Frankfurt at 11.35am.

The airline would only say that United flight 74 diverted to Shannon Airport on Monday following a medical emergency on board and that it later continued to Frankfurt.