The
middle-aged woman was drifting in and out of consciousness and had slumped over
in her seat, causing pandemonium on board the flight as other passengers
worried for the woman’s health.
Paul
Smith, a passenger aboard the plane, told DublinLive: "They quickly
swapped front and rear cabin crew; I’m guessing to bring a fluent Italian
speaker closer. When she arrived the male lead steward calmly said to his young
female colleague several times: 'Take control and own the situation'.
"By
this stage they had the ill woman stretched out across three seats, she
appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness, suggesting that she hadn’t
eaten."
He
added: "Many anxious passengers were standing up in the aisle trying to
assist her, or simply to see what was happening. A nurse from the rear of the
plane made himself available. It appeared the situation stabilised and things
returned back to normal, everyone went back to their seats apart from a cabin
crew member and a gentleman that was sitting next to her."
“It
became quite disorganised and unruly at times, many of the now very worried
Italian-speaking passengers trying to offer their own medical advice. The cabin
crew had to be quite vocal and strong towards some, they repeated 'please take
your seats, the seatbelt sign is on'.
"The
cabin crew made an announcement asking for the nurse or any medical
professionals to make themselves available, the male nurse returned as well as
a female nurse. They decided to move the lady into a seat closer to the
bathroom and to give her more room and a faster exit off the plane.
"The
flight crew tried to keep things as normal as possible. The seatbelt sign
stayed on for the duration of the flight from that point on, but, shockingly,
many passengers couldn’t obey this. It was like a kindergarten, the flight crew
had to ask passengers to turn back and go back to their seats many times.
"During
the flight we weren’t sure if the plane was continuing towards Dublin or being
diverted, until the captain announced: 'We’re making our approach into Dublin,
as we have a medical emergency on board an ambulance will meet us on the stand,
so please remain in your seats until the ambulance crew deal with the sick
passenger'."
After
the plane had landed, ambulance paramedics were at the scene and rushed aboard
to help the woman, who was subsequently brought to hospital.
Smith
concluded: "Top marks to the Ryanair cabin crew, a few of which couldn’t
have been more than 25. It was a tense situation, which they controlled
extremely well."
A
Ryanair spokeswoman told Dublin Live: “Crew requested medical assistance ahead
of landing on this Palermo to Dublin flight (26 Jan) as a passenger became
unwell mid-flight. The aircraft landed normally and the passenger was met by
medical personnel on arrival.”