There’s a stink in the air... blocked pipe chaos in airport

A ‘VILE smell’ that felt ‘like someone was holding it around your face’ greeted passengers at Dublin Airport’s baggage carousel on Tuesday.

Sewage dripped from the ceiling when a pipe became ‘blocked’, according to a Dublin Airport spokeswoman.

Late on Tuesday night, passengers were ‘retching’ as a ‘disgusting’ smell wafted through the arrivals lounge, according to one witness. Brown water pooled on the floor and looked as if it was coming from beneath the closest carousel.

Passengers were shocked to realise this was where their luggage was being brought out, despite ten other carousels being available. One said: ‘It smelt like manure more than sewage. It was absolutely vile. The baggage carrousel had yellow plastic barriers around a small bit of the carousel, and there was brown water on the floor.

‘That was the carousel the bags came out on and there was only a small bit blocked off, but I thought, “If that is where the issue is then why not use any of the ten other carousels?” It was like someone was holding it around your face, and like it was getting inside. People were walking through and retching. It was horrible.’

However, a Dublin Airport spokeswoman denied claims the carousel closest to the blocked pipe was in use.

She said: ‘We had a blocked pipe above baggage carousel number four in the baggage hall in Terminal 2, which caused some residual odour in that area. The baggage carousel was cordoned off as a precautionary measure and not in use while the pipe was cleared and cleaned by our asset care and cleaning teams.’

After the Irish Daily Mail revealed passengers had picked their bags up from the carousel nearest the blocked-off zone, the spokeswoman said the carousel ‘may have been on but it was not being used’.

She later clarified: ‘The blocked pipe was located in the roof in between baggage carousel four and five, and the barriers were erected in between the two carousels and not around the entire carousels while the pipe was being repaired. No bags contaminated but there was a foul smell... which we apologise for.’