This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
A Wizz Air flight en route to London was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger onboard started to experience a medical episode.
Wizz Air Flight W4 3031 departed from Bucharest, Romania at 12.21pm on Tuesday (8 October) towards London Gatwick, with the flight usually lasting around three hours.
However, at 1.20pm, with around an hour left on the flight, the plane was diverted to Cologne, Germany, for an emergency landing.
Wizz Air said in a statement that the flight was diverted after a passenger experienced a medical emergency, but due to privacy reasons, information on the passenger or their condition is not available.
Before touching down in Cologne, the cabin crew on the Airbus A321 provided emergency care while medical assistance was arranged by the crew to wait in Cologne once they landed.
Once the passenger was taken to the hospital, the plane departed again, finishing its journey in London Gatwick.
“We send our wishes to the passenger for a speedy recovery, and we thank our crew for their fast action to provide assistance,” Wizz Air added.
This is not the first time a plane has had to carry out an emergency landing at Cologne Bonn Airport within the past few weeks.
A Jet2 plane had to also divert to the German city after a passenger fell ill on a flight from Bulgaria to Liverpool, and later passed away.
The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Cologne on 16 September after a male passenger suffered a cardiac arrest.
Before the man died, efforts were made onboard to resuscitate the man, and a medical team rushed onto the plane once it touched down.
“Regrettably, we can confirm that the customer sadly passed away,” Jet2 said in a statement last month.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the customer’s family and friends at this very difficult time.”
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast