A TRANSATLANTIC flight bound for Dublin was forced to divert to Canada after a passenger suffered a suspected stroke
Delta Air Lines flight DL-44 from New York was forced to land St John’s International Airport, just two hours into its journey, after a medical emergency was declared onboard.
Flight crew onboard the Boeing 767-400 jet contacted air traffic controllers at Gander Centre just prior to commencing its oceanic crossing to report a problem.
The crew told ground control a 54-year-old man on board was showing symptoms of a “possible stroke” and requested the flight be diverted to the nearest airport, at St John’s in Newfoundland.
The flight, which had 188 passengers and crew on board, departed New York at 3:15am and had been due to land in Dublin at 9:10am.
The @Delta flight #DAL44 is finally approaching Dublin Airport having diverted to St Johns, Canada last night while enroute from New York JFK #avgeek pic.twitter.com/JlFLBs9bNJ
— Michael Kelly (@Michaelkelly707) January 31, 2019
Instead, the flight travelled around 200kms to St John’s, landing safely around 6am.
They were met at the terminal by authorities and emergency medical services with the man later taken to hospital for treatment.
#Delta N831MH 764 taxiing on the bravos #DublinAirport #DL45 is late departing as #DL44 diverted to YYT and only arrived at 13.59 https://t.co/wEEbzJavVs pic.twitter.com/glwQyeoa7S
— Essiejosie ✈ (@Essiejosie) January 31, 2019
The flight returned to the air at 10:20am, four hours later, arriving in Dublin by 2pm.
